Charlie is playing with his daughter Torrey in the snow. She sits on a sled and asks him to slide her across a flat, horizontal field. Charlie has a choice of pushing her from behind by applying a force downward on her shoulders at 30° below the horizontal (figure (a)) or attaching a rope to the front of the sled and pulling with a force at 30° above the horizontal (figure (b)). Which would be easier for him?
Question
Charlie is playing with his daughter Torrey in the snow. She sits on a sled and asks him to slide her across a flat, horizontal field. Charlie has a choice of pushing her from behind by applying a force downward on her shoulders at 30° below the horizontal (figure (a)) or attaching a rope to the front of the sled and pulling with a force at 30° above the horizontal (figure (b)). Which would be easier for him?
Solution
The easier method for Charlie would be to pull Torrey using a rope attached to the front of the sled at an angle 30° above the horizontal. This is because when Charlie pulls the sled, a component of the force he exerts helps to reduce the friction between the sled and the snow.
When he pushes from behind at an angle, a component of the force he exerts actually increases the friction between the sled and the snow, making it harder to move the sled.
So, pulling the sled at an angle would make the task easier for Charlie.
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