Question

Three individuals are pushing a vehicle that is held in place by 600 N of force, and the combined effort of all three individuals pushing the car forward is 615 N. What was the net force exerted on the car?

A positive value can be assigned to the force keeping the car stationary, and a negative value can be assigned to the force exerted by the people attempting to move the car forward.

Answer 1

The net force exerted on the car is -15 N, which is the result of subtracting the force holding the car stationary (600 N) from the combined pushing force of the individuals (615 N).

Step-by-step explanation:

The question pertains to a scenario in which three individuals are pushing a car against a force that is holding the car stationary.

To determine the net force exerted on the car, we apply Newton's second law of motion and consider the direction of the forces. By convention, we can assign a positive value to the force keeping the car stationary (600 N) and a negative value to the force exerted by the individuals (615 N).

Therefore, the net force is calculated as the sum of these forces: -615 N (negative because it is in the opposite direction) plus 600 N equals -15 N. The negative sign indicates that the net force is in the direction of the individuals' push, but since it's less than the force holding the car stationary, the car will not move forward.