Question

The sum of magnitude of two forces acting at a point is 16N. If their resultant is normal to the smaller force and has a magnitude of 8N, the forces are?​

Answer 1

Explanation:

Let the smaller of the two forces is of magnitude be F N.

Hence the larger one will be (16−F) N. As the resultant 8N is perpendicular to F we can write.

F2+82=(16−F)2

⇒(16−F)2−F2=64

⇒16(16−2F)=64

⇒256−32F=64

⇒F=256−6432=6N

So the smaller force is 6 N

and the larger force is 10 N