- #1
alkaspeltzar
- 354
- 37
In early physics, i learned a force was simply a push or pull, talked about as a number of Newtons or pounds, such as "the force is 5lbs".
Then you learn that a force is really a vector quantity, having both the direction and strength/force, so it should be "5lbs to the east or 15lbs downard".
Yet today, after all my physics, forces are still talked about and calculated in book ignoring direction. When asked to find a force, we simply care if it is "5lbs or 15 lbs" and direction is almost assumed.
So that is my questions, how can we do that? Is it just for most practical applications we can generally think of forces as push/pull without direction?
I assume this since i see this is how my classmates think about it too. Just looking for others inputs. Thanks
Then you learn that a force is really a vector quantity, having both the direction and strength/force, so it should be "5lbs to the east or 15lbs downard".
Yet today, after all my physics, forces are still talked about and calculated in book ignoring direction. When asked to find a force, we simply care if it is "5lbs or 15 lbs" and direction is almost assumed.
So that is my questions, how can we do that? Is it just for most practical applications we can generally think of forces as push/pull without direction?
I assume this since i see this is how my classmates think about it too. Just looking for others inputs. Thanks