In a tug-of-war, one of the players makes the argument \This is hopeless! If I pull the rope to the left, Newton's Third Law guarantees that there will be an equal and opposite reaction from the other player pulling me to the right. Nobody can possibly win!" Use Newton's laws to explain how one player can still win the game.
The two teams pull with equal force as long as they’re pulling. When the force exerted by one team slackens, the force exerted by their opponents ALSO slackens. The team that WINS is the team pushing harder against the ground. Of course, the ground is pushing back equally hard, but since the two teams are pushing against the ground with different forces, the ground pushes back with different forces against each team.
Put a big, strong team on one side on a very slippery icy surface and no traction in their shoes ( or in wheelchairs with no brakes) , and a team of weaklings on the other side, on a surface with plenty of friction, and the team made up of weaklings will win because they’re pushing harder against the ground.
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