TORQUE BALANCE LAB

Chloe Le
AP Physics 1
Mr. Craig
Period 5
ABSTRACT

The purpose of this lab was to use the principles of rotational equilibrium and torque to
determine the mass of an unknown object. In the lab, a meter stick was placed atop a
pivot. An unknown mass was hung on one side of the pivot, while a known mass was
hung on the other. The distances between each mass and the pivot were measured, and
through calculations using T = rFsin𝜃, the mass was found. Key findings from this lab
include: the distance of an object of fixed mass from its pivot of rotation is what affects
its relative torque. Objects had more torque the further away from the pivot they were
moved. In addition, when doing this experiment, it was discovered that the width of the
chosen pivot affects the accuracy of the results. In this lab, the chosen pivot was a water
bottle cap with sizable thickness and surface area. This thickness skewed the results,
making the found mass in trial 3 to be greater than the actual mass. In order to avoid this
error, choose a pivot that has less surface area, such as a pen.

INTRODUCTION

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The three main concepts explored and used in this lab were torque, rotational
equilibrium, and center of mass.

Torque is known as the rotational counterpart of “force” in linear motion. The difference
between torques and forces is that torques cause rotational acceleration, rather than
linear. The general equation for torque T is as follows: T = r Fsin𝜃 – where “Fsin𝜃”
represents the component of an applied force that is perpendicular to the object, and “r”
is the distance from the pivot of the system to the point where the force is applied. (See
Fig. 3). The forces in this experiment were represented by the weight of each object. The
mass was found from the weight through Newton’s 2nd Law: weight = F = ma, where a is
equal to the acceleration due to gravity g = 10 m/s and m is the mass of the object.

The concept of rotational equilibrium states that if the sum of the torques is 0, then no
rotational acceleration will occur. For this experiment, this means that in order for the
ruler to be balanced atop the pivot, the sum of the torques from both sides must equal 0.
In other words, T1 + T2 = 0. This concept is used to find the masses of the unknown
objects in this lab.

Lastly, specifically in Trial 3 of this lab, the concept of center of mass was used to
determine the weight to the unknown mass. If the ruler has equal mass on each side,
then the torques from the right and left side of the ruler cancel out and therefore do not
need to be considered. A problem arises, however, if there are different amounts of
“ruler mass” on each side. This needs to be accounted for when calculating the mass of
the unknown object in Trial 3. (see Fig. 5)

EXPERIMENTAL

Materials

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 ● Meter stick
● Water bottle (used for pivot)
● Textbooks (used to prop pivot up)
● 2 cups with string attached, labeled Cup A & Cup B
● Object of known mass (scissors)
● 3 objects of unknown mass, individually numbered
● Digital scale

Procedure

Preparations:

1. Taking Measurements: Using the digital scale, measure the masses of Cup A, Cup
B, and the ruler. Make sure to measure the ruler on its side, with its shorter side
touching the scale. This is so the entirety of the ruler’s mass is recorded by the
scale. Take note of these masses labeling the mass of Cup A → MA and Cup B → MB.
2. Setting Up the Experiment: First, place the meter stick flat on top of the water
bottle lid. Then, place both the water bottle and meter stick atop a stack of
textbooks. This is so the cups do not touch the table when they hang. Use as many
books as needed to provide enough height for the cups to freely hang when placed
on the ruler. The water bottle is the pivot for this experiment. (see Fig. 1)

Trial 1: no restrictions

1. Place the pivot at the 50 cm mark on the meterstick. Hang Cup A on the right side
of the pivot, and Cup B on the left side of the pivot.
2. Place the object of known mass, the scissors, into Cup B. The meter stick should tilt
excessively to the left side.
3. Place object #1 of unknown mass into Cup A. Adjust the positions of Cup A and
Cup B along the meter stick until the stick sits balanced atop the pivot.
4. Record the positions of Cup A and Cup B relative to the meter stick markings.
5. Using the positions, find:
a. The distance R1 from Cup A to the pivot (50cm - position of Cup A)
b. The distance R2 from Cup B to the pivot (Position of Cup B - 50 cm)
c. These distances will be in cm. Convert them to meters by dividing by 100.
6. Record findings.

Trial 2: the two objects cannot be the same distance from the pivot

1. Repeat all steps listed for Trial 1 above using a different object of unknown mass.

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 2. If distances are the same, adjust the positions of the objects so they are not the
same distance from the pivot.
3. Record findings.

Trial 3: The pivot cannot be at the center of the meter stick.

1. Choose a point on the meter stick, aside from 50 cm, to place the pivot. (See Fig. 2)
In this particular experiment, the 64 cm mark was chosen.
2. Repeat the steps listed above for the final object of unknown mass.
3. After balancing the cups, take note of the center of mass of each side. See
introduction section for explanation on this. Also find the individual masses of
each side of the ruler using percentages. (See Fig. 5)
4. Record findings.

DATA

Mass of Cup Mass of Cup

Trial # R1 (distance R2 (distance Position of
Known A (MA), cup B (MB), cup
(Labeled from unknown from known pivot on Unknown
Mass MS, used for used for
Unknown mass to pivot) mass to the meter stick Mass M# (g)
(m)
scissors (g) Unknown known mass
Object #) pivot) (m) (cm)
Mass M# (g) MK (g)

Trial 1 50 cm
.15 m .45 m m1~ 146 g 38.4 g 15.23 g 15.4 g
(#1) (halfway)

Trial 2 50 cm
.36 m .26 m m2 ~ 23 g 38.4 g 15.23 g 15.4 g
(#6) (halfway)

64 cm
Trial 3
.12 m .36 m (offset to m3 ~ 48.1g 38.4 g 15.23 g 15.4 g
(#15)
the right)

Additional Measurements (Trial 3)

Distance from center Distance from center

64% of Ruler Mass, 36% of Ruler Mass,
Total Mass of Ruler (g) of left ruler mass to of right ruler mass to
left side of ruler (g) left side of ruler (g)
pivot (m) pivot

84.10 g 53.824 g 30.276 g .32 m .18 m

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RESULTS & DISCUSSION

Calculations:

EQUATION EXPLANATION

T1 + T2 = 0 The concept of rotational equilibrium.

r1F1sin𝜃 + r2F2sin𝜃 = 0 T = rFsin𝜃, expanded equation.

Removed sin𝜃, since the force from the

r1F1 + r2F2 = 0 objects is already perpendicular in this lab.

F=ma, Newton’s 2nd Law. Introduced the

r1·mTa+ r2·mTa = 0 masses of the objects into the equation.

The masses of the two Cups, A & B are

a (r1[m1+MA] +r2[m2+MB]) = 0 distinguished from the masses of the objects.

Since a=g= 10 m/s, this was substituted.

Variables were also changed. The second
10 (r1[m1+MA] – r2[mK+MB]) = 0 torque is technically negative because it
makes the system spin in the negative
direction (clockwise)

This is the final equation used to solve for

m1= (r2[mK+MB]/r1) – MA the unknown mass.

Results

Trial # 1 (object #1) 2 (object #6) 3 (object #15)

Found Mass 146 g 23 g 48.1 g

Actual Mass 148.3 23.6 g 45.3

Error Margin 2.3 g .6 g 3.2 g

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Through concepts of Torque and rotational equilibrium, the masses were found using the
equation above. It was found that the distance between an object's position on the ruler
had a direct correlation to its torque. The further away from the pivot, the more torque
an object has. The closer to the pivot, the less torque.

Errors

Regarding this experiment, several errors were likely made regarding the
measurements. Such errors include human error in measuring the mass of the ruler.
Additionally, the experimental design had a key flaw: it used the top of a water bottle
with sizable width as the pivot point. This width made the experiment inaccurate as
mentioned in the abstract. In order to improve this experiment, changes should be made
in choosing a pivot of less surface area, in order to get a more accurate mass
measurement.

FIGURES

Figure 1 – Model of Experimental Set Up

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REFERENCES

Serway, R. A., Vuille, C., & Faughn, J. S. (2008). College Physics (8th ed.). Brooks/Cole,
Cengage Learning.