Composition/Resol

ution
Of Forces Lab
By Thyrell Smith

Purpose:
The purpose of this lab is to show how forces that are going in
different directions and are acting on an object that isnt moving must
resolve to zero.
Materials:
3-Spring Scales, A 3-way nylon string with a knot in the middle, a
piece of paper.
Procedure:
Tape the piece of paper to the table so that it doesnt move. Adjust the
spring scales so that they read to zero. Attach the string to the three scales
so that they are pulling in three different directions and pull with the fore
thats over half their capacity. Without moving the spring scales, trace a line
under the nylon string going in each direction. At this same time, record the
readings of each spring scale. The scales are accurate to about 5%.
Release the scales and draw an arbitrary axis. Avoid making the axis
perpendicular to any of the lines. Measure the angle between each line and
the axis and find an error term to determine each angles uncertainty.
Plot a triangular vector graph using boxes at the ends to represent
uncertainty. Break each of the 3 vectors up into components and add them
using vector addition. both of these procedures should yield the forces
acting on the scale and strings and they should add to (virtually) zero since
the rope was not moving/accelerating.
Calculations:
Our uncertainty is 5% for the magnitude and 3 for the angle measure.
Geralds Spring- 370g
Thyrells Spring- 200g
Daltons Spring- 210g
Magnitude
37018.5
20010
21010.5

2733
463
1273

Conclusion:
We can see from this lab that anytime forces are acting on an object and
moving in opposite directions from each other and the object isnt moving,
then the forces must add to zero. This phenomenon can be replicated in the
real world in labs like this and can explain opposing forces and how they
resolve themselves.