WIKI Word: Opposing Forces

Definition of Opposing Forces: forces acting in opposite directions

An example of opposing forces is when you're playing tug-of-war.  When you have to people pulling on the rope in opposite directions, hence opposing directions.  To figure out the total amount of force acting on an object is quite simple.  When they are opposing, like in a game of tug-of-war, you subtract them from each other, with the smaller number being subtracted from the larger number.  When the forces are acting in the same position, you just have to add the forces to each other.  Another example of opposing forces is when a boat is trying to pull something very heavy.  Even though the heavy item isn't moving on it's own in the opposite direction, it's still weighing down the boat.  The subtraction would be the item's force, (nothing) subtracted from the boat's force.  The answer would still be the boat's total force because you don't have anything to subtract.

In our water bottle rocket lab in the beginning of the year,  we studied about opposing forces because there were many instances during the procedures that had to do with them.   For instance, when the rocket went up, it was all thanks to the opposing forces.  The only reason that the rocket went up in the air was because the water came out of the bottom of the water bottle.  As it came out, the force of the water shoved the bottle in an upward motion, causing it to fly for x seconds.

I got this information from past experiences and from my previous knowledge.

The cite for this picture: admin, "VST & REASON - rewired 1." dancetech. 14 APR 2001. 1 Feb 2008 <http://www.dancetech.com/aa_dt_new/articles/item.cfm?threadid=104&lang=0>.