Question

You're playing with your father's brother's nephew's cousin's former roommate's niece. She wants you to push her around in her go-cart. You notice a rope attached to the front of the cart and figure that it would be easier to pull her rather than to push her. You estimate that she weighs about 50 pounds, the go-cart weighs about 10 pounds and that the rolling friction on the ground behaves similarly to a 0.20 coeffient of kinetic friction. You want to figure out the angle above the horizontal at which to pull her that will involve the least effort from you.

Answer 1

How much more force would you have had to exert (at minimum) to push her rather than pulling her? Assume that your push as angled downward at about 30 degrees below the horizontal.