What is an unbalanced or balanced force?

Answer 1

There is no such thing as a balanced or unbalanced force. There's only a

balanced or unbalanced group of forces.

A balanced group of forces is a group that adds up to zero. An unbalanced group

is a group of forces that doesn't.

Simple example of a balanced group of forces . . . a tug-of-war. 29 strong men

pull on one end of a thick rope, and 47 strong women pull on the other end in

the opposite direction. What happens to the flag hanging from the middle of

the rope ? Nothing ! It doesn't move at all, because when you add up all of the

forces ... 47 strong forces in one direction and 29 stronger ones in the opposite

direction ... they add up to zero, and there's no force at all on the flag to make it

move one way or the other.

If one little boy comes along and pulls on one end of the rope, the group of

forces isn't balanced any more, the combination of forces on the flag isn't zero

any more, and the flag moves in the direction of the little boy.