Think of a tug-of-war. You pull one way, your buddy pulls the other. That invisible force in the rope? Tension.
It’s a pulling force transmitted through a string, rope, or wire. It’s always pulling, never pushing. Ropes can’t push. They’re terrible at it.
But here’s the kicker: tension is actually the same everywhere in the rope. If you’re pulling with 50 pounds of force at one end, the other end feels exactly 50 pounds. It’s a perfectly selfish force—what you give is what it gives back.
