Question

A warehouse worker pushes a crate along the floor. The worker pushes with a force of 10 N that points downward at an angle of 45° below the horizontal. What component of the force moves the crate forward?
7.8 N
3.4 N
7.1 N
10 N

Answer 1

The component of the force that moves the crate forward is equal to 7.1N(third option).

Why?

Since the force is applied at an angle (45°), the force has two components (horizontal and vertical). We can calculate the component that pushes the crate forward by the following way:

$Force_{horizontal}=10N*Cos(45\°)=7.08N=7.1N$

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