Question

According to Newton’s third law, each team pulls the opposite team with equal force in a tug of war. Then, why does one team win and the other lose?

Answer 1

when the force exerted by a single team increases then the other one it wins... but when same force is applied by both the teams they attain equilibrium and no one wins as the Law itself states " To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction" hence equal forces follows the Newton's third law of motion

Answer 2

According to Newton's Third Law for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Action = - Reaction

• According to Newton’s third law, forces on the rope must equal and opposite.

• But not all the forces acting on each team are equal.
• The factors like friction acting between ground and the team does not depend on the other team  and can be larger on one side than on the other.
• In addition, the grips on the rope need not be equal and opposite. Thus, the net force acting on each team from all sources need not be equal.
• hence one team win and the other lose.