Originally Posted By: paul
OK , rub it in...


Alright, if you insist, my favorite paragraph :P ..

as far as I am concerned I have won this discussion because
of my use of non - fictional forces and numbers , you have done nothing but try to use fictional forces and went as far as adding up those fictional forces to arrive at fictional numbers.



Quote:

I still cant exactly see how 8000N can be directed in the
(-) direction from a 12000N force , that only leaves 4000N
dispersed in the lateral directions.


I can't quite visualize it very well. Tho there isn't really 'more' longitudinal force than lateral. Tho the entirety of the average force is longitudinal, and none lateral.

If you took just one of the two quarter-turns, it'd have the same 8000N average force in both directions. So the total average force would be directed at 45 degrees. When you also average that with the other quarter-turn, the two opposite lateral components average to zero, leaving only the two 8000N longitudinal components, which average to 8000N.

If that makes any sense at all :P

Last edited by kallog; 07/10/10 09:48 PM.