Balanced and Unbalanced Forces Practice Problems Try these problems Free Body Diagram

Balanced and Unbalanced Forces Practice Problems
Try these problems to test your knowledge about balanced and unbalanced
forces. You must show all work.
Free Body Diagram
Is the object
balanced or
unbalanced?
Will the object experience a
change in motion? (Yes/No)
Which way? (left, right, up, down)
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How do you combine forces going in opposite directions? _____________________
8N
16N
_________
8N
16N
________
How do you combine forces going in the same direction? ______________________
10 N
___________
20 N
1. Two tugboats are moving a barge in the same direction. Tugboat A exerts a force of
3000 Newtons on the barge. Tugboat B exerts a force of 5000 Newtons in the same
direction.
a. Draw arrows showing the individual and combined forces of the tugboats in #1.
b. What is the combined force (net force) on the barge? ______________________
c. Are the forces balanced or unbalanced? _______________________________
2. Now suppose that Tugboat A exerts a force of 2000 N on the barge to the west and
Tugboat B exerts a force of 4000 N in the opposite direction (to the east).
a. Draw arrows showing the individual and combined forces of the tugboats in #2.
b. What is the combined force (net force) on the barge? ________________________
c. Are the forces balanced or unbalanced? _________________________________
3. Could there ever be a case when Tugboat A and Tugboat B are both exerting a
force on the barge but the barge doesn't move? Use arrows to draw this scenario in
the space below.
Below is a diagram that shows the four forces that are acting on an airplane. The table below
the diagram explains what happens when one force is greater than the opposing force that it
is paired with. (Lift is always paired with weight and thrust is always paired with drag).
4. An airplane has a weight of 100,000 N and a lift
force of 75,000N.
a. What is the combined force (net force) on the
airplane?
b. Are the forces balanced or unbalanced?
c. What will happen to the plane?
5. An airplane has a thrusting force of 200,000 N and a
drag force of 23,000 N.
a. What is the combined force (net force) on the
airplane?
b. Are the forces balanced or unbalanced?
c. What will happen to the plane?
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