Question

Tug of war is a game played by most people in their youth. In the wild, animals tussle with each other in similar ways but with much more at stake – e.g., a crocodile grabbing a zebra by its head to drag it into the Nile. Winning this game is much harder than not losing it (i.e., settling for a stalemate). Why? Design an experiment that tests this hypothesis, and then explain your predictions in terms of force generation and energetics. Make sure to choose your species carefully, and provide sufficient detailed information to show your understanding of how data are collected, analysed and interpreted.

Answer 1

Tug of war is the perfect example of balanced forces, where the effect of the force applied by one team is cancelled by the other team. Besides raw muscle power, the cooperation of team members is also very important. The second important factor is the weight of the players. With heavy weight the players will have more static friction and with more static friction, more force will be applied on the rope.Similarly, we can see the example of a fight between a mongoose and a king cobra.

King cobras is considered as the most venomous snake and it also feeds on other snakes but King cobra tries to avoid mongoose. The mongoose is quick and have acetylcholine receptors due to which cobra’s venom doesn’t affect it. Their fight lasts for hours and when the mongoose gets hold of the snake it bites it right into the skull.