I.

Unbalanced Forces
Two toddlers--Toddler 1 and Toddler 2*--tug at a toy basket weighing 10kg (at angles 20° and 30°
respectively,) through its handles. Wearing socks on a marble floor, Toddler 2 pulls the basket away from
Toddler 1 with 35N of force.

* I realize that I didn’t do the best job at notating the variables. To clarify, T₁, T₁ₓ, T₁ᵧ = net force of Toddler 1,
force of Toddler 1 in the x-direction, force of Toddler 1 in the y-direction, respectively. The same convention
applies to Toddler 2.

OVERVIEW:
Scenario with a sliding surface: socks on a marble floor:

Toddler 1 and Toddler 2 tug at a toy basket weighing 10 kg at angles 20° and 30° respectively. Wearing
socks on a marble floor, Toddler 2 pulls both the basket and Toddler 1 to the right whilst applying 35N of
force.

Free-body diagram:

Calculations of triangle forces at an angle:

List of variables:
Derivations of unknown variables included

* calculation for acceleration must read: [(F_t2x - F_t1x - F_f)/10)]

Force in the y-direction: normal force:

Force in the x-direction: acceleration:

Coefficient of friction:

Discussion of balanced and unbalanced forces:

This scenario includes both balanced and unbalanced forces. As previously discussed, balanced forces are
those in which the forces in opposing directions are of equal magnitude and thus “cancel” each other out.
As such, the object stays stationary in certain orientations (e.g, during sliding, the object doesn’t move in
the y-direction but does move in the x-direction) or all together. Accordingly, this scenario has balanced
forces in the y-direction since there is no vertical motion. I can verify this using my calculations of the
normal force. I used the sum of forces formula to show how all forces in the y-direction should sum up to
0. I solved for my known variables: y-direction force of toddler one and two as well as the force of
gravity. And finally, solved for the unknown variable.

In the y-direction, however, there are unbalanced forces. This is because the force with which Toddler 2 is
pulling the basket, is greater than the countering force of Toddler 1. As a result, there is an acceleration in
the x-direction. I used the “sum of all forces equals to mass times acceleration” formula to show this. I
referred to my triangle diagram for my known values (i.e, forces of both toddlers in the x-direction) in
addition to my given force of friction and used them to solve for the missing variable: acceleration.

Overall, this scenario has both balanced and unbalanced forces since the net force in the y-direction is
equal to 0 while there is motion in the x-direction.