Two forces of 4N and 10N act on a body. Which of the following could not be the resultant magnitude? (14N, 7N, 6N, 3N)

My first thought when dealing with resultant forces is to try out the most common combinations: combined and opposite. In this case 10N + 4N = 14N and 10N - 4N = 6N. This tactic does rule out two of the answers, but we are still left wondering what is the difference between the remaining answers: 7N and 3N. Why those two options were given? If, say, 7N is obtainable, then how?The trick to "which one is not" questions is to think in terms of boundaries, not values. By their nature, such questions imply that a whole range of values exists and your job is to figure out the boundaries of that range. There is an infinite number of angles that those two forces can be acting at, but the edge cases we have looked at before provide us with the maximum and minimum values of that range. Therefore, 3N is not obtainable, since, no matter the configuration, 10N - 4N = 6N is the absolute minimum resultant force.

Answered by Aleksandr J. Physics tutor

7613 Views

See similar Physics A Level tutors

Related Physics A Level answers

All answers ▸

What is the angular speed of a car wheel of diameter 0.400m when the speed of the car is 108km/h?


A box is pulled with a rope at 26° to the horizontal and a tension of 120N. What is the work done in pulling it 5 metres?


Ignoring air resistance, use an energy argument to find the speed of a ball when it hits the ground if it is dropped from 50m, where m is the mass of the ball.


This Question is a multi-parter but all around the same scenario. Similar to an end of paper A-level physics question.


We're here to help

contact us iconContact usWhatsapp logoMessage us on Whatsapptelephone icon+44 (0) 203 773 6020
Facebook logoInstagram logoLinkedIn logo
Cookie Preferences