How much work is done by the boy pulling his sister 36 m in a wagon as shown in the figure below? Assume no friction acts on the wagon. (Assume d = 36 m and F = 52 N.)

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1 Answer
Meave60
Mar 20, 2017

The amount of work done is #"1600 N"*"m"#at an angle of #30^("o")#, and a horizontal displacement of #"36 m"#.

Explanation:

Work is done when a force acts on a body, causing that body to move a given number of meters in the same direction as the force. The formula for work is:

#W=F*d*costheta"#, where #W# is work in Newton-meters, #("N"*"m")#, force is Newtons, #("N")#, and #("d")# is the displacement in meters over which the force is applied, and #theta# is the angle over which the force is applied.

Known:
#"F=52 N"#
#"d=36 m"#
#theta=30^("o"#

Unknown: #W#

#W=52"N"xx36"m"xx"cos30"^("o")=1600"N"*"m"# (rounded to two significant figures)

The amount of work done is #"1600 N"*"m"#at an angle of #30^("o")#, and a horizontal displacement of #"36 m"#.

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