il: M-2-200M

M-2: Equilibrium of Forces

Objective

• The objective of this lab is to experimentally verify vector addition of forces

Equipment

• Circular Horizontal Force Table with 360-degree scale
  • 4 Orange Pulleys
  • 4 50g Weight Hangers
  • Slotted masses
  • Protractor
  • Rulers

Procedure

• Choose two concurrent forces, each between 100 and 500 gram weight and not in the same direction. Add these two vectors to find the resultant force
  • Use both a graphical construction and a numerical computation
• Check your result by setting up the two original forces on the force table, and finding experimentally the single force which will hold them in equilibrium.
  • Random errors are due mainly to friction. You can estimate them by repeating the measurement several times.
  • Are your measured values consistent with the computation and graphical construction?
• Repeat the experiment, but use three different original forces.

Post-Experiment Question

• If the weight hangers used all have identical masses, can their weight be neglected?

M-2 Equipment

201/207 Experiments

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