multiple choice physics question

Question

Which of the following is always true when a rope is tied to an object and is pulling on it?

A. There is a tension force that is equal and opposite to the frictional force acting on the object.

 B. There is a tension force that gets smaller as you move along the rope that points in the direction of the rope where it attaches to the object.

 C. There is a tension force that is constant and points in the direction of the rope where it attaches to the object.

D. There is a tension force that gets larger as you move along the rope that points in the direction of the rope where it attaches to the object.

Answer 1

Hi Zachariah,

Great question!

Tension as a force is apart of an action-reaction pair of forces. Therefore when a rope is attached to an object, if you take action upon the rope, there will be a reaction on the object. This occurs at the point of attachment and is in the same direction of the rope.

* tension direction is to the left if rope is on the left <--------<------<---OBJECT

If you take for example a game of tug of war; both teams are pulling the rope in opposite directions which creates tension on both sides of the rope.

<--------<--------<------------MIDDLE OF ROPE------------>---------->-------->

1. there is tension on both sides of the rope in opposite directions following the direction of the string.

This is called a passive force, which means there are two basic possibilities of this system. 1. There is no acceleration, so the net force of the system is zero, or 2. there is acceleration so there is a total net force.

I hope this helps you understand the concept better!