(Sample Lab Report)

The Force Table Physics 221 Section 001 September 22, 2006 Kyle Schmitt Tony the Tiger

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: Rx = Ax + Bx + ... + Nx Ry = Ay + By + ... + Ny, where N is the total number of forces acting on the object. The magnitude of the resultant vector is
2 R = R x2 + R y ,

and the angle between the vector R and the x-axis is ). Rx 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.

= tan 1 (

Ry

Forces Force #1 Force #2 Force #3 Sum of Components Resultant Force R Equilibrant Force E Measured Force % Difference Force #1 Force #2 Force #3 Sum of Components Resultant Force R Equilibrant Force E Measured Force % Difference Force #1 Force #2 Force #3 Sum of Components Resultant Force R Equilibrant Force E Measured Force % Difference Force #1 Force #2 Force #3 Sum of Components Resultant Force R Equilibrant Force E Measured Force % Difference

Magnitude 400 200 300

Angle 30 -60 135

X Component 346.4101615 100 -212.1320344 234.2781272

Y Component 200 -173.2050808 212.1320344 238.9269536

334.62267 334.62267 350 4% 400 200 500

45.56 225.6 227 1% 45 -45 270 282.8427125 141.4213562 -9.18861E-14 424.2640687 282.8427125 -141.4213562 -500 -358.5786438

555.49855 555.49855 550 1% 350 200 500

-40.2 139.8 140 0% 20 315 250 328.8924173 141.4213562 -171.0100717 299.3037018 119.7070502 -141.4213562 -469.8463104 -491.5606165

575.51242 575.51242 570 1% 300 200 250

-58.66 121.3 118 3% 25 310 200 271.8923361 128.5575219 -234.9231552 165.5267029 126.7854785 -153.2088886 -85.50503583 -111.9284459

199.81758 199.81758 200 0%

-34.07 145.9 143 2%

Table 1_________________________________________________________

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.