Can a person tie a 100 foot rope on a 100 pound sack of potatoes and pull it with no problem ?

Question

I have heard that if you have a 100 pound bag of potatoes or, corn, and you tie a 100 foot rope to it that it would be impossible for a person to pull it.. Even with a car.. How about a 200 foot rope ??
Would any body know anything about this ??

Add on..
No Pulleys can be used.
No Winches can be used.
This has to be a STRAIGHT PULL.
A standard 1/2 inch rope

Answer 1

a stupid person will definitely say its impossible, but if the person is a thinker it is possible.
100 lbs potato it just like a adolescent kid. do you think a 100ft rope can tie him?
yes definitely. wrap the rope around the kid many times until you used up all the rope.
can you pull it, definitely, use pulleys use cart and you said car.
do you think a car can't pull a 500 pound weight? i don't thinks so. a car can pull another car, but why not 500 lbs weight???

Answer 2

I thinks this is just one of those urban legends. Here is the thing, you guys are getting to technical. The reason you can't pull the sack of potatoes with a 100 ft rope (by hand), its because there is too much slack in the rope, by the time you get the slack out of the rope you have no more strength or force. You are required to keep the slack out of the rope before you can even begin to move the sack. Now if you use a vehicle of any kind, well except a Yugo, you can maintain the slack out of the line and then utilize the force to pull the bag. Besides, WHO CARES!

Answer 3

I assume you mean to pull it along the ground. This sounds like some kind of folk lore. Of course a reasonably fit person can drag it. Indeed, I would expect a reasonably fit person to be able to drag several hundred pounds along the ground at the end of a 100 foot length of rope. The length of the rope has only a minimal effect. But it's a fairly easy experiment to conduct. For your own sake, get out on a grassy field (to reduce ground friction) and prove it for yourself.

Answer 4

Seems like a kind of silly question to me. First, you must insure that your rope is capable of pulling 100 lbs of anything. It might be too thin and break. Secondly, why would you want to use a single length of rope. Wouldn't it make more sense to use only a quarter of that length, or even a tenth? Third why would you want to use a single pull. It would make a lot more sense to use a series of pully's to multiply your force and make the work easier. As I said, it seems like a really silly question if you think about it.

Answer 5

100 feet of plenty strong enough rope weighs less than 20 lbs.

120 lbs is not much for a strong man to pull

even my sorry worn out dodge shadow could pull it easily

is there supposed to be something magic about the 100 and the 100?
would your question be different if it were 101 and 101? or 99's?

I don't get this question at all.

Answer 6

Your question does not make sense, so you have probably fallen victim to a hoax. The length of the attached rope has almost nothing to do with the effort required to drag a bag of potatoes.

Answer 7

I'm not a particularly strong guy, but I'm _sure_ that I could pull that load with a 100 foot rope.

Answer 8

It depends on the surface across which you are trying to pull the sack. On a rough, rocky surface, or an area with shrubs or trees, the sack may easily catch on something and prevent you from pulling it.

On bare ice, it would be easy.

Answer 9

Imagine the case 1: You have to "lift and go" that 50-pound-rice-sack by one hand, it'll be harder than two 25-pound-rice-sacks on both hands. Another case: You carry that guy on your neck, is that more difficult by carrying on you back? So the points here are, the way of mass-distributing, and the high of COG (Center of Gravity).

Answer 10

yes. you tie one end of the rope to your potatoes then you tie the other end of the rope to a tank and drive the tank away which will pull the potatoes behind it.