EXPERIMENTAL THEORY

When two forces act on a body in different directions in one plane, they are equivalent to
single force (the resultant) acting somewhere in between them. An example of this is when a sledge
is pulled by two horizontal ropes spread at an angle; the sledge will move in a direction between
the ropes along the line of their resultant force. Until the sledge moves, it will pull back against
the ropes with a single horizontal force equal and opposite to the resultant of the two ropes forces.
It can be shown that when three such forces are balanced (that is, in equilibrium), their lines of
action all meet at a point. Using this fact, the resultant of two forces in the same plane at an angle
can be found by graphical method called the Parallelogram of Forces. To maintain equilibrium it
is necessary and sufficient that the resultant force acting on a rigid body to be equal to zero. In
terms of Newton’s laws of motion, this is expressed mathematically as:

 F  0 ; Where,  F is the vector sum of all forces acting on the particle.

When the body is subjected to a system of forces which all lie in the x-y plane, the forces can be
resolved into their x and y components. Consequently, the conditions for equilibrium in two
dimensions can be written in scalar form as:

F X  0 and F y 0

  
Let’s say that there are three forces namely F1 , F2 and F3 acts on a body as shown in Figure 1.

F2 F1
2 1

F3

Figure 1: Free Body Diagram

   
For equilibrium, this equation must be equal to zero. Hence, F1  F2  F3  0 .

  
Therefore, F1  F2   F3 .

F x  0; F1 sin 1  F2 sin  2  0
The sum of forces of x components, F1 sin  2 …(1)
 
F2 sin 1

The sum of forces of y components, F y  0; F1 cos1  F2 cos2  F3  0 …(2)

ADDITIONAL THEORY

An object is said to be in equilibrium if the object is at rest or is moving with a constant

velocity in a straight line. The resultant force that acts on an object is zero if it is in equilibrium.
In other words, the forces that act on the object are balanced in all directions. If object is in
equilibrium, the resultant force that acts is zero. For two forces acting in the same direction or
opposite direction, if the force is not zero, then the object is not in equilibrium.
DISCUSSIONS

1. Discuss the graphs obtained.

The graph obtained after plotting the graph for experimental result is decreasing graph.
The ratio of sin decrease when the ratio of forces decreases due to the increasing of weight. Ratio
of weight is equal to ratio of forces. The graph obtained for calculated result also same as
experimental result which is decreasing graph. From the graph show that the forces in equilibrium.

2. Discuss the parallelogram diagrams obtained.

The parallelogram diagrams obtained after plotting the each of our diagrams are same. The
lines that represented the cord position were met at the centre of the ring. First, lengths of OA and
OB were mark to represent the pull of weights W1 and W2. The scale that was using is 20mm per
N. Through A, the line of AC was drawn parallel to the line of OB, and the line of BC was drawn
through B parallel to the line of OA. The parallelogram OACB was obtained. Then, the diagonal
line OC was drew to represent the resultant forces F1 and F2. Lastly, the length of OC was measured
and the direction of OC was determined.

3. Make a comparison between experimental and calculated result.

Experimental result almost same with the calculated result. But, experimental result and
calculated result was different. For angle θ1, angle in experimental result more than angle in
calculated result. But, for the angle θ2, angle in experimental result less than angle in calculated
result.