What is the vertical component of the resultant force on the balloon?

A balloon is acted upon by three forces, weight, upthrust and sideways force due to the wind, as shown in the diagram.enter image source here

1 Answer
Feb 18, 2018

1000N

Explanation:

Forces acting in opposite directions should be written mathematically with opposite signs. Really this should be 10000N upthrust, and -9000N weight. Then you just add them up.

10000N + - 9000N = 1000N

This might seem weird to say that you have -9000N weight, but the sign only indicates direction, nothing more.