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Understanding Resultant Forces
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Understanding Resultant Forces

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Understanding Resultant Forces

Forces can be imagined as like numbers that can be added together and produce an overall result. Resultant forces summarise the effect of all acting forces.

A force has both magnitude (size) and direction. This means forces are which type of quantity?

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In most situations there are at least two forces acting on an object. We can find the overall effect of the forces by considering the magnitude and direction of each individual force.

The effect of more than one force acting on an object, is the same as just one force in a certain direction. You can replace the individual forces with a single force. We call this the resultant force.

If pairs of forces are acting in opposite directions, how would you find the size of the resultant force?

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If pairs of forces are acting in the same direction, how would you find the size of the resultant force?

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What effect will a resultant force have on an object? Pick all the options below that you think are correct.

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A resultant force will change the velocity of an object. The larger the resultant force, the more the object will accelerate.

If we know that a resultant force will change the velocity of an object, what might be the effect if the resultant force is zero?

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