(Sample Lab Report)

The Force Table

Physics 221 Section 001
September 22, 2006
Kyle Schmitt
Tony the Tiger
2

Purpose/Theory

The purpose of this experiment is to verify vector addition. According to
Newtons second law, an object that is not accelerating must have no net force, i.e. the
sum of the vectors of the forces on that object must be zero. The method for vector
addition includes finding the orthogonal components of each vector and adding so that
the components of the resultant vector R is related to the components of the individual
vectors A, B, etc., in the following way:

R
x
= A
x
+ B
x
+ ... + N
x

R
y
= A
y
+ B
y
+ ... + N
y,

where N is the total number of forces acting on the object. The magnitude of the
resultant vector is

2 2
y x
R R + = R ,

and the angle between the vector R and the x-axis is

) ( tan
1
x
y
R
R

= .
The equilibrant vector is the vector E which when added to R returns zero (Parks 35-38).

Procedure

Three masses were used to exert measurable forces on a ring at the center of the
force table. They were placed at measurable angles so that the components of the force
vectors could be calculated. A forth mass was placed so that the net force on the ring was
zero, i.e. the ring was centered on the table.

Data

The forces applied to the ring and the calculated and measured equilibrant forces
are presented in Table 1.
3



Forces Magnitude Angle X Component Y Component
Force #1 400 30 346.4101615 200
Force #2 200 -60 100 -173.2050808
Force #3 300 135 -212.1320344 212.1320344
Sum of
Components 234.2781272 238.9269536
Resultant Force R 334.62267 45.56
Equilibrant Force E 334.62267 225.6
Measured Force 350 227
% Difference 4% 1%

Force #1 400 45 282.8427125 282.8427125
Force #2 200 -45 141.4213562 -141.4213562
Force #3 500 270 -9.18861E-14 -500
Sum of
Components 424.2640687 -358.5786438
Resultant Force R 555.49855 -40.2
Equilibrant Force E 555.49855 139.8
Measured Force 550 140
% Difference 1% 0%

Force #1 350 20 328.8924173 119.7070502
Force #2 200 315 141.4213562 -141.4213562
Force #3 500 250 -171.0100717 -469.8463104
Sum of
Components 299.3037018 -491.5606165
Resultant Force R 575.51242 -58.66
Equilibrant Force E 575.51242 121.3
Measured Force 570 118
% Difference 1% 3%

Force #1 300 25 271.8923361 126.7854785
Force #2 200 310 128.5575219 -153.2088886
Force #3 250 200 -234.9231552 -85.50503583
Sum of
Components 165.5267029 -111.9284459
Resultant Force R 199.81758 -34.07
Equilibrant Force E 199.81758 145.9
Measured Force 200 143
% Difference 0% 2%
Table 1_________________________________________________________





4

Results/Conclusions

The results of this experiment are presented in Table 1. All of the measured
forces are within 4 percent difference of the calculated forces, so it can be concluded that
this method of calculating vector addition is accurate.

Questions

This section is self explanatory, and I wont give you the answers to the questions
Write the question and the answer, or just the answer if it is worded well enough that I
can tell what the question is. Yes or no isnt enough, but Our measurements were
within 4% difference, so the apparatus was reasonably accurate. is. It took me about an
hour to write this lab report... the reports are a significant percentage of your overall
grade so do a good job.


Works Cited

Parks, James E. Selected Introductory Physics Experiments. Knoxville: Thomson
Custom Publishing, 2002.