Tug of War Demonstration
Tug of war is a classic kids' game, and is a great example
of Newton's third law in real life. Give two people a rope
and see who can pull the other to their side. Other variants
have multiple people on each side, all hauling on the rope.
But how does the winner, or winners, do it? Does she pull on
the rope with more force? Does she stand differently?
Is her side of the rope somehow different?
This demonstration connects the rope to
two force probes. The force probes output on a computer
interface so you can see the
forces acting on each side of the rope.
Instructions:
1. Connect Vernier LabPro to computer and power outlet.
2. Connect two force probes to the LabPro box in channels 1 and 2, and tie each end of a rope to the two sensor hooks.
3. Load LoggerPro. It should load the force sensor interfaces automatically.
4. Press the green "collect" button.
5. Have the volunteers tug each other one way and another.
NOTE: SENSORS CANNOT READ MORE THAN 15 NEWTONS. This is not enough for an all out tug of war, but is fine for a lighter version to study the forces.
An example of the force sensor output is shown
below.
Safety Information: Do not pull too hard on the force
sensor.
Location:
JHA