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Anyone good with physics?
Please help with this .., makes no sense
A man tells a horse to pull a cart. The horse tells the man that if he pulls the cart forward with a certain force the cart will exert an equal force backwards. Thus the horse says the force will cancel out and the cart won't move. So the horse refuses to pull the cart. How would you explain that the cart would move?
3 Answers
- wildturkey1949Lv 48 years agoFavorite Answer
The man did not specify the force he wanted applied, therefor the horse (must have been a sophomore) made an invalid assumption when he said the cart wouldn't move.
The human needs to explain to the horse that he must apply a force greater than the resistance the cart offers or there will no oats tonight.
Source(s): retired smart alec science teacher - Anonymous8 years ago
Though the above is true, this statement neglects the frictional force between the horse and the Earth. As the horse pushes the Earth back, the Earth pushes the horse forwards, allowing it to move.
However, if we were to put the horse and cart on (frictionless) ice, then the horse would be unable to move.
- ?Lv 78 years ago
The force that the cart pulls back with is due to it's acceleration. Once the cart reaches a steady speed, it no longer pulls back, except for friction.
