Physics 110

Forces and Equilibrium

Delene Sofi

Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania Spirit

September 25, 2017

Brodney Fitzgerald

The purpose of this lab is to first become knowledgeable with vectors, calculate
vector sums graphically & experimentally, and describe vector composition &
equilibrium using various procedures. First we set up the force table using a bubble
level. We then placed a pulley at the 270 and placed a total weight of 6.5 N(663 g) onto
it, we placed another at the 30 degree mark and placed a weight of 5 N(510 g) onto it,
and then for the third, we figured out where the third pulley would be placed by
balancing it out with the others. To complete the objective, the steps were broken into 4
parts. For part two, we had to place a pulley at the 215 mark and put an unknown
weight onto it and we put a pulley opposite at 35 to balance out the unknown. We then
recorded all the data and removed the 35 mark and put a pulley on the 0 mark and
one on the 90 mark. We continued to add and take off weights to reach equilibrium.
For part three we measured the magnitude. And for part four, we measured our error
with a protractor and ruler on the ABCD paper.

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Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Forces and Equilibrium Lab

Objective: To become knowledgeable with vectors, calculate vector sums graphically &
experimentally, and describe vector composition & equilibrium using a force table.

Background: When an object is in a state of equilibrium, it is said that it acts that way
when forces act upon the object but still remains static. So the forces that are applied to
the object are balanced and do not cause the object to move or accelerate.

A force contains magnitude and direction hence making it the example of a vector. It is
indicated as a line drawn with a pointed head. The length of the line is indicated as the
magnitude of the force, while the pointed head indicates the direction.

The sum of two vectors are components of a vector. The ubiquitous components are
determined by indication the vector as the hypotenuse of a right triangle. That makes
the vertical and horizontal side the x and y components.

2
Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Procedure:
Part 1
1. First we set up the force table using a bubble level.
2. We then placed a pulley at the 270 and placed a total weight of 6.5 N(663 g) onto
it, we placed another at the 30 degree mark and placed a weight of 5 N(510 g)
onto it, and then for the third, we figured out where the third pulley would be
placed by balancing it out with the others.
Part 2
1. We had to place a pulley at the 215 mark and put an unknown weight onto it and
we put a pulley opposite at 35 to balance out the unknown. We then recorded all
the data and removed the 35 mark and put a pulley on the 0 mark and one on
the 90 mark. We continued to add and take off weights to reach equilibrium.
Part 3
1. We then measured the magnitude and direction of the forces on the next page
with a ruler or a protractor.
2. We set all of the four forces to equilibrium.
Part 4
1. We measured our error with a protractor and ruler on the next page using our
previous information to calculate the error.

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Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Table for Part 1

FORCE NAME FORCE (N) MASS (g) DIRECTION ()

P 6.50 663 270

Q 5.00 510 30

E 5.88 600 138

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 Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Table for Part 2

FORCE NAME MASS MIN MASS MAX AVE MASS FORCE ( N )

T 550 600 .575 5.635

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Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Table for part 2

FORCE NAME FORCE (N) MASS (g) DIRECTION ()

U 550 5.39 215

X 400 3.92 0

Y 300 2.94 90

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Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Table for Part 3

FORCE NAME FORCE (cm) FORCE (N) MASS (g) DIRECTION ()

A 12.5 6.25 .637 0

B 12 6 .612 49

C 7 3.5 .357 190

D 5 2.5 .255 253

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 Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Table for Part 4

PART ERROR(cm) ERROR(N) MAX FORCE(N) % ERROR

1

1.74 .87 6.50 13.4

12 6 5.39 111.3

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Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Graph part 1

9
Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Graph Part 2

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Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Calculations

1. N/g(1000) , used to convert newtons into grams, 6.50 N / 9.8 m/s2 x 1000= 663
grams

2. 2 cm = 1 N, used for the percent error, 12 cm / 2 = 6 N

3. 18.25 - 17.38 = .87 N / 6.50 N = .13384 x 100 = 13.4 %, used to find percent error

4. 18.25 - 12.25= 6 N / 5.39 N = 1.1131 x 100 = 111.3 %, used to find percent error

11
Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

Discussions

In this lab I learned about vectors, and how to calculate vector sums graphically &
experimentally, and about vector composition & equilibrium using various procedures.
This lab consisted mostly with recording data. There wasnt any specific formulas to use,
if there were some calculations, itd have to do with converting units, like 2 cm = 1 N. So
first we set up the force table using a bubble level. We then placed a pulley at the 270
and placed a total weight of 6.5 N(663 g) onto it, we placed another at the 30 degree
mark and placed a weight of 5 N(510 g) onto it, and then for the third, we figured out
where the third pulley would be placed by balancing it out with the others until it
reached the equilibrium state. We had to place a pulley at the 215 mark and put an
unknown weight onto it and we put a pulley opposite at 35 to balance out the unknown.
We then recorded all the data and removed the 35 mark and put a pulley on the 0
mark and one on the 90 mark. We continued to add and take off weights to reach
equilibrium. We then measured the magnitude and direction of the forces on the next
page with a ruler or a protractor. We set all of the four forces to equilibrium. We
measured our error with a protractor and ruler on the next page using our previous
information to calculate the error.
When an object is in a state of equilibrium, it is said that it acts that way when
forces act upon the object but still remains static. So the forces that are applied to the
object are balanced and do not cause the object to move or accelerate. A force contains
magnitude and direction hence making it the example of a vector. It is indicated as a line
drawn with a pointed head. The length of the line is indicated as the magnitude of the
force, while the pointed head indicates the direction. The sum of two vectors are
components of a vector. The common components are determined by indicating the
vector as the hypotenuse of a right triangle. That makes the vertical and horizontal side
the x and y components.
For the first table, what is represented is our recorded data from the 3 pulleys we
placed for part 1. For the second table, we were recording data from putting all the
masses into equilibrium and making one mass greater than the other to see how the
other weights react to it. As for the second table in part two, that is just the new degree
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Name: Delene Sofi Partners: Alyysa Fulinara, Amira Hamm, & Lelania
Spirit

marks we were starting off with. In table 4, that is the table which we measured our
error on from a page in the lab manual. And for part 5, the graph just records all the
errors made.
My error for part 1 was at 13.4 % while the error for part 2 was at a whopping
111.3 %. I believe that the percent error was this high because the pulleys went from a 0
degree mark to a 90 degree mark. But for part 1, we mightve messed up with the masses
on the pulleys which gave us a 13.4 % error.

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