Ransom, Brittany

October 6, 2011

Lab Report General Physics I Professor Abdennacer Karoui Vectors I. Introduction This experiment was supposed to show that forces are added together. We pulled on a silver washer (the little metal ring) with strings with weights attached, in various directions. We also combined three different forces so that the force on the ring is equal and the ring does not drift off of the center of the table. At first we only had two forces, then a third force needed to bring the system into equilibrium. We then recorded our calculation and compared them to the third force. Basically we are trying to conclude the equilibrium of vectors using 3 differing techniques: graphical, analytical, and experimental. Experimentation a. Materials Force Table: tool used to measure the masses 1 Yard Ruler: measures the length of the string 1 Scale used to weigh objects Straight edge: tool used to draw straight lines when drawing graphs and adding vectors Protractor: tool used to measure and draw angles on graph Graph paper: used to draw vectors and add vectors

II.

Figure 1(Force Table from utm.edu)

b. Methods The method for adding the vectors includes finding the components of each vector and adding so that the components of the resultant vector R is relative to the components of the individual vectors F1, F2, and F3in the following way: Rx = F1x + F2x + F3 Ry = F1y + F2y + F3 c. Hypothesis The outcome of the analytical and graphical methods will be more exact than the experimental method, but they will be almost the same. d. Measurements

FV=.95in SUM = 2.21in Vector @ 20 degrees Vector @ 110 degrees Horizontal component = 2in Vertical component= .95in

FH=1.64in

e. Calculations For each set of forces F1, F2, F3, the weight and angles are given. They were placed at measurable angles so that the components of the force vectors could be calculated. Each force is broken into its x- and y-components graphically and analytically. Then the resultant was found by adding the components to the forces. We measured the force which actually balanced the forces system. Fix = Fi cos Fiy = Fi sin III. Main Results The forces applied to the ring and the calculated and measured equilibrant forces are presented in table. Vector F1 F2 F3 1. 2. 3. 4. Angle of Resultant Pulley 1.5in 152.5 N/A 1.5in 162.5 210 1.5in 170 180 Three unequal and non-parallel forces cannot all be in one quadrant and be in equilibrium because the forces arent spread evenly around the ring. Three unequal and non-parallel forces can all be in adjacent quadrants and be in equilibrium because the forces are spread evenly around the ring Vectors are quantities that include both magnitude and direction. They are different from scalars because scalars dont include directions, just magnitude only. Between the two methods, graphical and experimental, graphical was more accurate because of all the errors that had to be taken into consideration during the experimental method Length Mass

IV.

Conclusion: This experiment supposed to show that when the forces were added to find a resultant force that could be easily compared to the actual physical force. But the measured forces didnt match my hypothesis and there was a large amount of uncertainty. Some of the error sources were the friction on the pulleys, the length and thickness of the strings, and there were others.