Faculty of Manufacturing Engineering

University Malaysia Pahang

11 November 2016

BFF 2821 Mechanics Lab

Triangle of Forces

Muhammad Zakuan Bin Abdul

Rahman FA14040
muhd95zakuan@gmail.com
Abstract
This paper documents the
experiments work carried out to study of
Triangle of Forces by using some
apparatus in the lab. In this activity,
participants will be explained about the
three non-parallel forces in equilibrium
that represented by a triangle of forces,
using a simple experiment.

2. Objective
The
objective
of
this
experiment are to verify the law of
triangle of forces by using force
board. Other than that, to show that
the three non-parallel forces in
equilibrium can be represented by a
triangle of forces (provided that the
direction of forces is known.

3. Apparatus

1. Introduction
Law of triangle of forces states
that if three forces acting at a point can
be represented in magnitude and
direction by the sides of a triangle in the
same order, then these three forces will
be in equilibrium[1][2].
Conversely,
the
law
of
equilibrium can be stated that if three
forces acting at a point are in
equilibrium, then they can be
represented in magnitude and direction
by three sides of a triangle in the same
order[3].

TABLE 1 : LIST APPARATUS

4. Procedure
The diagram board was positioned and
secured with screws and nuts through holes
on the mounting panel.

A.Test 1
The three pulleys are positioned
and secured with nuts as shown in Figure 1.
A sheet of paper is clipped to the diagram
board. Two of the ring cord is passed over
the upper pulleys and the weight hooks are
attached to the end of them. Another weight
hook is attached to the third cord. Weights is
added to the cords to achieve 2.7N, 3.2N and
2.2N respectively. The ring is released and
the weights settled freely. The position of the
three cords is marked with pencil dots on the
paper. The paper is removed, the lines is
draw representing the three cords, and the
weight supported by each cord is wrote.

Force Diagram

B. Test 2
A new sheet of paper is clipped
to the diagram board.The weights is kept
the same as in Test 1. The ring is let to
be balanced at the center of paper. After
that, the center weight cord is passed
over the lower pulley as shown in Figure
2. The new position of three cords is
marked and the line is draw representing
the cords as in Test 1. The weight
supported by each cord is recorded.

Test 2 :
Free Body Diagram

Force Diagram

5. Result
Test 1 :

Free Body Diagram

6. Discussion
Based on your results obtained,
write your answers for the following
questions:
1. From your force diagram drawn,
state how to find the magnitude of
two component forces when the third
one is known.
- One method of determining the
vector sum of these three forces is to
employ the method of head-to-tail
addition. In this method, an accurately
drawn scaled diagram is used and
each individual vector is drawn to
scale. Where the head of one vector
ends, the tail of the next vector
begins. Once all vectors are added,
the resultant can be determined by
drawing a vector from the tail of the
first vector to the head of the last
vector. This procedure is shown in the
result of test 1 and 2. The three
vectors are added using the head-totail method.

[1] R.K. Bansal (2005). "A Textbook of

Engineering
Mechanics".
Laxmi
Publications.
[2] Jerry H Ginsberg(1995). Advanced
engineering
dynamics
[2
ed.].
Cambridge University Press.
[3] Graham Kelly(2006). Advanced
Vibration Analysis. CRC Press

2. What does the triangle of forces

shows in addition to the magnitude of
forces?
- If 3 forces acting at a point can be
represented in size or direction by the
sides of a closed triangle, then the
forces are in equilibrium, provided
their directions can form a closed
triangle.This means that the forces
can follow each other round a
triangle.

7. Conclusion
- The triangle of force can be apply on
three on-parallel forces equilibrium. It
can be concluded that, from this triangle,
the magnitude of the resultant force can
be determined using the law of cosines
and its direction is determined from the
law of sines. The magnitude of two
forces components are determined from
the law of sines. Thus, it is proven.

8. References