In Exercise #9 on pg. 33: If you are riding on an escalator, with a suitcase, doesn’t the escalator supply the upward force? Doesn’t this also mean that the forces of the suitcase and escalator cancel one another to produce a net force of zero?
First, let’s suppose that the suitcase is resting directly on the escalator and you are not touching it (I had intend that you hold the suitcase in your hand). Because the suitcase is traveling at constant velocity, the net force on it must be zero. Since the suitcase has a downward weight, the escalator must be pushing upward on the suitcase with a force exactly equal in magnitude to the suitcase’s weight. As you suggest, the force of the suitcase’s weight and the support force of the escalator cancel one another to produce a net force of zero on the suitcase. Now, if you are holding the suitcase, it’s your job to exert this upward force on the suitcase. Once again, that upward force is equal in magnitude to the weight of the suitcase.