Question

A little boy was playing tug of war with his elder brother; he tried everything but was unsuccessful in pulling the rope towards himself. Eventually, the little boy lost the game because:-

Statement 1: The elder brother was capable of applying a greater force than his younger brother and hence the net force was in a direction to make him win.

Statement 2: An object moves in the direction of the net force acting on it.

Answer 1

Explanation for statement 1:

1. In the tug of war game, two teams apply forces in opposite directions.
2. The net force will be the difference between the two forces applied.
3. The rope moves in the direction of the team applying the greater force (pull).

Explanation for statement 2:

1. The net force is the vector total sum of all the forces that act upon an object.
2. The force is a vector and two forces of equal magnitude and opposite direction will cancel each other out.
3. If the two forces are not equal in magnitude then the net force is in the direction of the person with a large force.
4. Therefore, the object will move in the direction of the greater force.

Hence, both the given statements are correct.