A farmer is pumping water from a well using an old-fashioned hand
pump. Students are asked to sketch a plot of the force exerted by the
farmer's hand on the pump handle versus time.
Since the hand will be exerting a force as
it travels both up and down, the direction of the force is changing
as the hand switches direction. This shows up in the plot as going
from positive to negative (or vice versa). The plot below shows one
possible sketch of the force versus time.
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