A husky strains toward a squirrel, and the taut leash stops it. The dog feels a backward tug at its collar. The leash is exerting a force.
Ropes, strings, cables, and chains all exert this force the same way.
The stretched leash pulls back on the dog's collar, along the line of the leash. The same leash pulls forward on the hand holding it, at its other end. A stretched rope pulls on whatever it is attached to.
A hanging plant's chain pulls up on the plant's pot, along the chain. A tow rope stretched between a truck and a stuck car pulls the car along the rope's line.
The pattern: a stretched rope, string, cable, or chain pulls on whatever it is attached to, along its own direction. This pulling force is called tension.
A climber hangs from a taut rope anchored directly above. Which statement describes the rope's force on the climber?
Tension needs stretch. A slack rope pulls on nothing.
A rope lies slack between two fence posts. What force does the rope exert on the posts?
And a rope can only pull. Push on something with a rope and the rope just folds; a rope pulls or does nothing.
A porch swing hangs from two chains. What force does one stretched chain exert on the swing's seat, and along what line?
A stretched chain pulls on whatever it is attached to, along its own direction.
The chain pulls the seat upward along the chain's line: a tension force.
A jump rope lies on the gym floor, one end tied to a post, the other end loose. What tension force does it exert on the post?
Tension needs stretch, and a lying rope with a loose end is not stretched.
None. A slack rope pulls on nothing.
A tow strap, pulled taut, runs from a truck to a stuck car. Which statement describes the strap's force on the car?
A kite string runs from Jax's hand up at 40° to the kite. The string's tension force on the kite points:
Mira wants to move a crate away from her using only a rope attached to it. What can the rope do?
Type the name of the pulling force a stretched rope, string, cable, or chain exerts on whatever it is attached to.