If one person pushed on a piano with a force of 50 N east and another person pushed on the same piano with a force of 25 N west, what would be the net force on the piano?

1 Answer
Nam D.
Mar 6, 2018

#25 \ "N"# east

Explanation:

Since the person pushing the piano east has a force of #50 \ "N"#, and the person pushing the piano west has a force of #25 \ "N"#, we can setup an equation.

https://sites.wff.nasa.gov/code810/edu_newton.html

Think of it like this picture.

We have #50 \ "N"# east, and #-25 \ "N"# east as well (west is opposite of east).

So, the net force is

#F_"net"=50+(-25)#

#=25 \ "N"#

So, the net force is #25 \ "N"# east.

Note that the normal force and gravity cancel each other out, so the total net force is still #25# newtons east.

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