What is resultant force and component force?

Question

I cannot understand the definitions I found in the 'net, I found them too complicated. Can someone briefly define resultant and component force? Thanks, try to make the definition simple to understand.

Answer 1

The resultant force is the net force

on an object.

Example:

Joe's push      =     bill's push

--------------->you<-------------

you do not move = there is no "result"ant force on you

but if Joe's force is less than bill's:

Joe's push      <         bill's push

---------->you<----------------------

you move.  there is a "result"ant force.

you move in the direction of bill's arrow.

Notice the length of the arrows

They are called vectors. They have a size and direction

These vector's only have left or right components "x-components" of force

But vectors can have x,y,and z components

Forgetting the z component for the time being:

the length of the arrow is given by:

vector = sqr(x^2+y^2) "size of force"

x is the left or right component of force

y is the up or down component of force

What about the direction part?

The arrow's angle "direction" with reference to the ground,

for example, is given by atan(y/x). For the time

being try not to worry about it, but it can be used

to turn the original vector "back into components"

and vise versa.

Looks something like this:

x and y are the components of force

y "force"

|................... * vector "resultant force"

|.............. .*

|..........*

|......*     angle

------------------ x "force"