BULACAN STATE UNIVERSITY

CITY OF MALOLOS, BULACAN

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING
COE 105L - PHYSICS FOR ENGINEERS
EXPERIMENT NO. 1
VECTORS: RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION METHOD
AND POLYGON THEOREM

NAME: CUNANAN, JOHN JETHRO P. DATE PERFORMED: 02-01-2023

CLASS/YEAR & SECTION: BSCE-1A DATE SUBMITTED: 02-15-2023

SUBMITTED TO:
ENGR. JAYSON V. CAYETANO
INSTRUCTOR
 I. INTRODUCTION

AN OBJECT WITH BOTH MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION IS REFERRED

TO BE A VECTOR. A VECTOR CAN BE VISUALIZED GEOMETRICALLY AS A
DIRECTED LINE SEGMENT, WITH AN ARROW POINTING IN THE DIRECTION
AND A LENGTH EQUAL TO THE MAGNITUDE OF THE VECTOR. THE VECTOR
POINTS IN A DIRECTION FROM ITS TAIL TO ITS HEAD.
TO FURTHER TACKLE VECTORS, AN EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED TO
OBSERVE AND JUSTIFY ITS OBJECTIVES USING TWO METHODS NAMELY
GRAPHICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHOD.

II. OBJECTIVES

● TO ADD VECTOR FORCES GRAPHICALLY AND ANALYTICALLY.

● TO COMPARE POLYGON THEOREM AS GRAPHICAL METHOD WITH
RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION AS ANALYTICAL METHOD FOR FINDING THE
RESULTANT FORCE.
● TO COMPARE RESULTANT FORCE WITH EQUILIBRANT FORCE.

III. MATERIALS AND APPARATUS

● DEMONSTRATION EXPERIMENT FRAME

● ROUND DYNAMOMETER (5N)
● SET OF MASS
● STRING (2M)
● PROTRACTOR

IV. PROCEDURE

1. IN THE DEMONSTRATION BOARD, SET THREE DYNAMOMETERS AT

ANGLES 01, 02, AND 03 WITH RESPECT TO THE HORIZONTAL AS
SHOWN IN THE DIAGRAM.
2. SUSPENDED A 350-GRAM MASS M AT POINT OF USING A STRING.
3. READ THE DYNAMOMETER READING AND RECORD AS F₁, F2 AND F3.
4. MEASURE THE ANGLES 01, 02, AND 3 USING A PROTRACTOR.
5. USING THE POLYGON METHOD, ADD THE SET OF FORCES F1, F2 AND
F3 AND DETERMINE THE RESULTANT FORCE RGRAPHICAL (GRAPHICAL
RESULTANT).
 6. COMPUTE THE PERCENT OF ERROR USING WEIGHT W OF MASS M AS
THE TRUE VALUE AND THE RESULTANT FORCE RG AS THE
EXPERIMENTAL VALUE.
7. COMPARE THE RESULTANT FORCE RG WITH WEIGHT W AS
EQUILIBRIUM FORCE.
8. WITH THE SAME SET OF FORCES AND ANGLES, CALCULATE
ANALYTICALLY THE RESULTANT FORCE RANALYTICAL (ANALYTICAL
RESULTANT) USING THE RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION METHOD.
9. COMPUTE THE PERCENT OF ERROR USING WEIGHT W AS THE VALUE
AND THE RESULTANT FORCE RA AS THE EXPERIMENTAL VALUE.
10. COMPARE THE RESULTANT RA WITH THE WEIGHT W AS
EQUILIBRIUM FORCE.

V. SET-UP
VI. COMPUTATION
VII. OBSERVATION
1. WHEN A SET OF MASS (10g,20g,50g,100g) IS ADDED LITTLE BY LITTLE
TO THE STRING ATTACHED , THE DYNAMOMETERS IS ALSO
GRADUALLY MOVING IN RESPONSE TO THE MASS ADDED.
2. THE READING IN THE DYNAMOMETER IN THE SIDES IS MUCH
GREATER THAN IN THE MIDDLE ONE, RECORDING A FORCE OF 1.29N
IN THE LEFT WHILE 1.03N IN THE RIGHT DYNAMOMETER.
3. WITH THE USE OF A 360 PROTRACTOR, THE DYNAMOMETERS
RECORDED THREE (3) DIFFERENT ANGLES SINCE THEY ARE PLACED
SEPARATELY; RIGHT HAS A BEARING OF 30 N OF W, CENTER HAS A
BEARING OF 89.70 N OF W, AND LEFT HAS A BEARING OF 19.70 N OF E.
4. RESULTANT IS COMPUTED USING BOTH GRAPHICAL AND
COMPONENT METHOD BY USING SUMMATION AND PYTHAGOREAN
THEOREM. IT STATES THAT GRAPHICAL METHOD CAN BE USED AS A
ALTERNATIVE METHOD IN ORDER TO FIND THE RESULTANT.

VIII. INTERPRETATION

1. BOTH GRAPHICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS CAN PRODUCE

ACCURATE RESULTS FOR FINDING THE RESULTANT FORCE, AND
THE CHOICE DEPENDS ON THE TASK AND STUDENT PREFERENCE.
SOME MAY FIND THE GRAPHICAL METHOD MORE INTUITIVE, WHILE
OTHERS PREFER THE PRECISION OF THE ANALYTICAL METHOD.
2. THE POLYGON THEOREM AND RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION ARE
TWO METHODS FOR FINDING THE RESULTANT FORCE, WITH THE
 FORMER BEING A GRAPHICAL APPROACH AND THE LATTER BEING
ANALYTICAL. THE POLYGON THEOREM VISUALIZES THE FORCE
WHILE THE RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION USES MATHEMATICAL
CALCULATIONS FOR PRECISION. UNDERSTANDING BOTH METHODS
GIVES A COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF VECTOR FORCES.
3. THE RESULTANT FORCE IS THE COMBINED EFFECT OF ALL FORCES
ACTING ON AN OBJECT WHILE THE EQUILIBRANT FORCE IS EQUAL
IN MAGNITUDE BUT OPPOSITE IN DIRECTION, USED TO BALANCE
THE OTHER FORCES. THE MAGNITUDE OF BOTH FORCES IS THE
SAME.

IX. THEORY
THE RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION METHOD AND THE POLYGON
METHOD FOR FINDING THE RESULTANT FORCE ARE BOTH BASED ON
VECTOR MATHEMATICS. THE FORMER USES MATHEMATICAL
CALCULATIONS TO FIND THE RESULT, WHILE THE LATTER PROVIDES A
VISUAL REPRESENTATION. BOTH METHODS CAN PRODUCE ACCURATE
RESULTS, BUT THE CHOICE BETWEEN THEM DEPENDS ON THE TASK AND
THE STUDENT'S PREFERENCE. UNDERSTANDING BOTH METHODS HELPS
ACHIEVE A COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF VECTOR FORCES.

X. CONCLUSION
IN CONCLUSION, THE CALCULATION OF VECTOR FORCES CAN BE
DONE USING BOTH GRAPHICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS, AND BOTH
METHODS CAN PRODUCE ACCURATE RESULTS. THE POLYGON THEOREM
AND RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION ARE TWO METHODS FOR FINDING THE
RESULTANT FORCE, WITH THE FORMER BEING A GRAPHICAL APPROACH
AND THE LATTER BEING ANALYTICAL. THE POLYGON THEOREM
PROVIDES A VISUAL REPRESENTATION OF THE VECTORS WHILE THE
RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION USES MATHEMATICAL CALCULATIONS FOR
PRECISION. THE RESULTANT FORCE IS THE COMBINED EFFECT OF ALL
FORCES ACTING ON AN OBJECT WHILE THE EQUILIBRANT FORCE IS EQUAL
IN MAGNITUDE BUT OPPOSITE IN DIRECTION, USED TO BALANCE THE
OTHER FORCES. UNDERSTANDING BOTH THE POLYGON THEOREM AND
RECTANGULAR RESOLUTION METHOD HELPS IN ACHIEVING A
COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF VECTOR FORCES. THE CHOICE
BETWEEN THE TWO METHODS WILL DEPEND ON THE TASK AND THE
STUDENT'S PREFERENCE, WITH SOME FINDING THE GRAPHICAL METHOD
MORE INTUITIVE AND OTHERS PREFERRING THE PRECISION OF THE
ANALYTICAL METHOD.
REFERENCE

FRANK D AND NYKAMP DQ, “AN INTRODUCTION TO VECTORS.” FROM

MATH INSIGHT. HTTP://MATHINSIGHT.ORG/VECTOR_INTRODUCTION