Four students are pulling on ropes in a four-person tug of war. The relative sizes of the forces acting on the various ropes are and . The situation is shown in the diagram below.
What is the resultant force vector acting at the centre of the tug-of-war ropes? (3 marks)
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→ above the horizontal.
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→ By resolving the vertical vectors of up and down, the net force in the vertical direction is up.
→ Similarly, the net force in the horizontal direction is to the right.
→ Thus the resultant vector can be calculated using the vector diagram below.