When carrying something heavy alone (a couch for example) it is either really heavy or seemingly impossible to lift, but when 2 people on each side lift, it suddenly becomes super light, and I think they have all the weight, making me feel guilty. I recently helped someone move and they said they thought the same. Where does all the weight go?
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Some of it is also the efficiency of the force you’re generating. Moving a bulky object in your own is difficult, for example this couch. You can’t lift it by yourself, because it’s too long and trying to drag it creates a lot of friction that you’re fighting against. If you could somehow get under the couch dead center, you could probably lift it with effort (like someone deadlifting).
By having two people carrying the weight, putting force in the same direction and avoiding the friction, it becomes that much easier.
This is also why it’s so much easier to lift something “solid” vs dead weight. A 35lb bag of sand is harder to move than a 35lb iron plate because the bag is able to shift around, dragging against you, vs the plate you can carry close to your body.
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