Composition of Concurrent Forces (Force Table)

1 Introduction:

If a number of nonparallel forces are acting at the same point on a body, it can be shown that they may be replaced by a singleforce which will produce the same effect on the body. Such a force is called the

resultant

of the original forces. The processof ﬁnding this resultant is called the

composition of forces

. The single force which will hold a system of

concurrent

forces(forces acting through a common point) in equilibrium is called the

equilibrant

of the system. It is equal in magnitude to theresultant, but opposite in direction.The part of the force effective in some particular direction is called a

component

of the force. The process of ﬁndingcomponents of forces in speciﬁed directions is called the

resolution of forces

. The processes of composition and resolutionmay be performed by either of two methods,

graphical

analytical

. If

(Figure 1) is the force being considered, theanalytical method of ﬁnding the components consists of applying the proper trigonometric relations to the triangles formedby the force

and its components. As shown in Figure 1, the forces

and

are the horizontal and vertical components,respectively, of the force

.Figure 1: Force Components

f f

y x

2 Procedure:

1. A portion of your apparatus consists of a small ring attached to four strings and held in place on the force table by thecenter post (see Figure 2). Set one pulley at the 0

◦

position and suspend a 300-gram weight from the end of the string.

Note: The weight of the hanger constitutes a portion of the suspended weight

. In like manner, suspend a 400-gramweight at the 90

◦

position. If this system is to be held in equilibrium, a third force of the proper amount must be appliedat the required direction. Pull on one of the other strings until you determine the required direction, and then mount athird pulley at this position. Now suspend sufﬁcient weight from this position to center the ring around the post. Thisforce, expressed in grams, is the equilibrant of the other two forces. To check for equilibrium and to minimize the effectsof the friction in the pulleys, raise the ring a short distance above the table and release, noting the new position it takes.Record force and angle.2. Since the two original forces are at right angles to each other, it is a simple matter to compute the resultant by the

Pythagorean Theorem

. Set the computed value of the resultant on the force table at a position directly opposite to thatoftheequilibrant,removetheoriginaltwoforces, andthencheckto see if thecomputedresultantbalancesthe equilibrant.At this point review the deﬁnition of a resultant. Record force and angle and also E-R3. Obtain from the instructor an assignment of a concurrent-force arrangement of three forces. Choose some point on yourgraph paper as the origin and, after laying out the coordinate axes, draw to scale a vector diagram of the force system,labeling the forces

and

and indicate their directions (see Figure 3).1