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In physics and engineering, a resultant force is the single force and associated torque obtained by combining a system of forces and torques acting on a rigid body via vector addition. The defining feature of a resultant force, or resultant force-torque, is that it has the same effect on the rigid body as the original system of forces. [ 1 ]
In mechanics, the net force is the sum of all the forces acting on an object. For example, if two forces are acting upon an object in opposite directions, and one force is greater than the other, the forces can be replaced with a single force that is the difference of the greater and smaller force. That force is the net force. [1]
In the case of two applied forces, their sum (resultant force) can be found graphically using a parallelogram of forces. To graphically determine the resultant force of multiple forces, the acting forces can be arranged as edges of a polygon by attaching the beginning of one force vector to the end of another in an arbitrary order.
When two forces act on a point particle, the resulting force, the resultant (also called the net force), can be determined by following the parallelogram rule of vector addition: the addition of two vectors represented by sides of a parallelogram, gives an equivalent resultant vector that is equal in magnitude and direction to the transversal ...
A more descriptive term is force couple or pure moment. Its effect is to impart angular momentum but no linear momentum. In rigid body dynamics, force couples are free vectors, meaning their effects on a body are independent of the point of application. The resultant moment of a couple is a special case of moment.
A force does negative work if it has a component opposite to the direction of the displacement at the point of application of the force. [1] For example, when a ball is held above the ground and then dropped, the work done by the gravitational force on the ball as it falls is positive, and is equal to the weight of the ball (a force) multiplied ...
The forces acting on a body add as vectors, and so the total force on a body depends upon both the magnitudes and the directions of the individual forces. [ 23 ] : 58 When the net force on a body is equal to zero, then by Newton's second law, the body does not accelerate, and it is said to be in mechanical equilibrium .
There are two pairs of opposing sides, therefore the resultant horizontal forces balance in both orthogonal directions, and the resultant force is zero. The upward force on the cube is the pressure on the bottom surface integrated over its area. The surface is at constant depth, so the pressure is constant.