LAB 1: EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES FOR 3 POINT LOAD.

INTRODUCTION
When all the forces that act upon an object are balanced, then the object is said
to be in a state of equilibrium. The forces are considered to be balanced if the
rightward forces are balanced by the leftward forces and the upward forces are
balanced by the downward forces. This however does not necessarily mean that
all the forces are equal to each other. Note that the two objects are at
equilibrium because the forces that act upon them are balanced; however, the
individual forces are not equal to each other. If an object is at rest and is in a
state of equilibrium, then we would say that the object is at "static equilibrium."
"Static" means stationary or at rest. A common physics lab is to hang an object
by two or more strings and to measure the forces that are exerted at angles
upon the object to support its weight. The state of the object is analyzed in terms
of the forces acting upon the object. The object is a point on a string upon which
three forces were acting. If the object is at equilibrium, then the net force acting
upon the object should be 0 Newton. Thus, if all the forces are added together as
vectors, then the resultant force (the vector sum) should be 0 Newton. (Recall
that the net force is "the vector sum of all the forces" or the resultant of adding
all the individual forces head-to-tail.) Thus, an accurately drawn vector addition
diagram can be constructed to determine the resultant. In this lab work, we will
prove and compared the calculated angle (theory) with measured angle
(experiment).

OBJECTIVE.

The objectives that well get are weve investigating the conditions required to
achieve static equilibrium. We also have proved the force calculation method
using geometrical method and resolution of force method. We also compared
experimentally obtain result with theoretical calculation. Part A:

THEORETICAL WORK
TASK 1: FIND THE THEORIES.
1. Calculation of equilibrium of force using geometrical methods which are
triangle method and parallelogram law.
PARALLELOGRAM LAW
The parallelogram law is put the tails (end without the arrow) of the two vectors
at the same point, (just the vector A and the vector B on the left of the diagram)
then close the parallelogram by drawing the same two vectors again (the vector
B and vector A to the right of the diagram). The parallelogram rule is just the
Triangle method used twice at the same time.

TRIANGLE METHOD
The triangle method is one of the rules of adding vectors that conveniently by
geometric methods. Draw vector A with its magnitude represented by a
convenient scale and then draw vector B to the same scale with its tails starting
from the tips of A. The resultant vector R= A+B is the vector drawn from the tails
of A to the tips of B.

2. Calculation of equilibrium of force using resolution of forces method.

3. Calculation of random error and systematic error.

CALCULATION VALUEMEASURED VALUE

10 0
CALCULATE VALUE

TASK 2: DRAW THE FREE BODY DIAGRAM.

FREE BODY DIAGRAM

m =
0.1kg

F = 0.10 X (9.81) = 0.981 N

F = 0.15 (9.81) = 1.4715 N
F = 0.05 (9.81) = 0.4905 N
F = F = F + F

m =
0.15kg

TASK 3: DERIVE THE EQUATIONS AND CALCULATE THE ANGLES

1. Based on your FBD above, derive the equation to calculate angle 1 and
angle 2.
2. Report your data using table below. Start the load 3, m 3 with 50g.
Calculate for five different weights in increment order.

T1=m*g

T2=m*g

T1=(0.25)*(9.
81)

T2=(0.25)*(9.
81)

T1=2.45

T2=2.45

Fx = - T1 cos + T2 cos =0
Fy = T2 sin +T1 sin mg=0
0

= 2.45 sin +2.45 sin mg=0

mg = 4.9 sin
sin = mg/4.9

=sin-1 (mg/4.9)

LOAD 50g
mg=
0.05*9.81=0.49
= sin-1
(0.49/4.9)

LOAD 100g
mg=
0.1*9.81=0.98
= sin-1
(0.98/4.9)

LOAD 150g
mg=
0.15*9.81=1.47
= sin-1
(1.47/4.9)

LOAD 200g
mg=
0.2*9.81=1.96
= sin-1
(1.96/4.9)

LOAD 250g
mg=
0.25*9.81=2.45
= sin-1
(2.45/4.9)

TASK 3: RESULT FOR THE CALCULATION.

Load 3, m (g)
50 g
100 g
150 g
200 g
250 g

Angle 1, ()
5.74
11.54
17.48
23.6
30

Angle 2, ()
5.74
11.54
17.48
23.6
30

PART B: EXPERIMENTAL WORK.

TASK 4: FIND THE EQUIPMENT.
List of Equipment:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Ls-13101 equilibrium of forces Apparatus

Magnetic pulley x2
Magnetic protractor x1
Weight hanger and set of weights (500g) x3
FIGURE 2: LS 13101 EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES APPARATUS.

LEGEND
A Mounting Board
B Protractor
C Pulley with Magnetic Base
D Weigh
TASK 5: PROCEDURE
1. Two magnetic pulleys had been placed 200mm away from each other in a
horizontal line. Confirm that the pulleys are perfectly aligned on the grid.
2. After that take 400mm cord and tie both end of the cord with 50g load hooks.
3. Place the cord on the pulleys and make the two 50g weight are balance.

4. Weve put the weight to both hooks until the both weight become 250g. We
put 100g on m and 150g m and recorded it as m and m
5. After making sure its in a balanced condition, we placed the 50g weight hook
on the middle of the hook. We also make sure it is in between the two pulleys
(100mm) and weve recorded the load as m.
6. After that, weve measure the angle and at the pulleys of m and m
using the protractor respectively.
7. Increase the load m to 100g and measure the angle and respectively
using the protractor.
8. Keep repeating the step 7 until the load m reached 250g and then record the
data.
9.

TASK 6: RECORD THE MEASURED ANGLE

Load 1, m = 100g
Load 2, m = 150g

Load 3, M (G)
50 g
100 g
150 g
200 g
250 g

Angle 1, ()
8
14
22
30
35

Angle 2, ()
10
17
23
29
32

TASK 7: SHOW YOUR CALCULATION SAMPLE OF ERROR

CALCULATION VALUEMEASURED VALUE

10 0
CALCULATE VALUE

LOAD 50g

5.748 100
5.74
1
=

5.7410 100
5.74
=
2=74.2

LOAD 100g
1 =| 11.54 14 |X
100 11.5

2 = |11.54 17 |X
100 11.5

1=21.3%

2=47.3%

LOAD 150g
1 = |17.48 22 |X
100 17.4
5.74

2 =| 17.48 17 |X
100
17.4

LOAD 200g
1 = |23.6 30 |X
100
23.6

2 = |23.6 29 |X
100
23.6

1=27.1%

2=22.9%

LOAD 250g
1 =| 30 35 |X
100
30

2 = |30 32 |X
100
30
2=6.7%

TASK 7: RESULT OF ERROR ANALYSIS.

Load 3, m (g)
50 g
100 g
150 g
200 g
250 g

Angle 1, error (%)

39.4%
21.3%
25.9%
27.1%
16.7%

Angle 2, error (%)

74.2%
47.3%
31.6%
22.9%
6.7%

DISCUSSION.
After doing the experiment, we noted that the forces acting upon an object in
equilibrium is commonly used to analyze situations involving objects at static
equilibrium. The most common application involves the analysis of the forces
acting upon a sign that is at rest. For example, consider the picture at the right
that hangs on a wall. The picture is in a state of equilibrium, and thus all the
forces acting upon the picture must be balanced. That is, all horizontal
components must add to 0 Newton and all vertical components must add to 0
Newton.
If an object is at equilibrium, then the forces are balanced. Balanced is the key
word that is used to describe equilibrium situations. Thus, the net force is zero
and the acceleration is 0 m/s/s. Objects at equilibrium must have an acceleration
of 0 m/s/s. This extends from Newton's first law of motion. But having an
acceleration of 0 m/s/s does not mean the object is at rest. An object at
equilibrium is either at rest and staying at rest, or in motion and continuing in
motion with the same speed and direction.
What we get in this lab work are the different between the theoretical and
experiment values. What we can conclude is there got slightly different value
between the theoretical and experiment values. The reason why got the different
was got some error that causing it. There are lot of things that can be the reason
in error. Firstly was the random error or called human error, its caused by
inherently unpredictable fluctuations in the reading of measurement apparatus
or experiment. The different between the theoretical and experiment values
maybe because of the human error which is take the reading wrongly or wrongly
put the apparatus. Other thank that the observational error and systematic error
may caused the different between the theoretical and experiment values.

Discussion 2
What we have experience in this lab work was we know the conditions required
to achieve static equilibrium. We also have proved the force calculation method
using geometrical method and resolution of force method. We also compared
experimentally obtain result with theoretical calculation. Other than that we
together find the solution and try to solve it by asking lecturer and technician

there. Besides that, we have compared about the theoretical and experiment
values.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, equilibrium is the state of an object in which all the forces acting
upon it are balanced. In such cases, the net force is 0 Newton. Knowing the
forces acting upon an object, trigonometric functions can be utilized to
determine the horizontal and vertical components of each force. If at equilibrium,
then all the vertical components must balance and all the horizontal components
must balance.
We also know the Calculation equilibrium of force using resolution of force
method
Force is a vector, therefore it is adds according to the parallelogram law. In the
above section we discovered that if a set of given forces acting over a body is
unable to produce any displacement of motion in the body, this means the force
are in equilibrium, and the result may be associated with only some internal
stress of the body.
If two force components acting on a point, follow either the parallelogram law or
triangle rule for vector to draw its resultant force if we have in figure 1.
F1

F2

F1
Solution
FR = F1+F2

F2

Figure 1
When it is required to resolve a force into two components in two specific
directions, we start to draw parallel lines from the head of the vector to the
desire directions until they intersect the directions.

FV

FR

FU
U

In case of determining the magnitude and direction of the resultant force it is

recommended to apply the law of cosines or law of sines to the triangle.
C

c
A

Cosine law:

B2 +C 22 BCcos a

Sine law:

A
B
C
=
=
sin a sinb sin c

Calculation for random error and systematic error.

i)

Random Errors
Take more data. Random errors can be evaluated through statistical
analysis and can be reduced by averaging over a large number of
observations.

ii)

Systematic Errors
Systematic errors are difficult to detect and cannot be analyzed
statistically, because all of the data is off in the same direction either
too high or too low. Spotting and correcting for systematic error takes
a lot of care.