Engineering Activity 3b: Static Equilibrium

Mr. Hurd—Times2 STEM Academy

Name Period Date

Problem Statement
Can static equilibrium be used to calculate unknown forces?

Hypothesis
According to Newton’s law of inertia, an object at rest will
remain at rest unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
Therefore the forces must be balanced and the net force equal to
zero for an object to be in a state of static equilibrium. This fact
can be used to calculate unknown equilibrant forces.

Equipment
Beam, mass, scale, string.

Procedure
1) Measure all forces, location of forces, and angles of forces acting on the beam except for those at the pin
and the tension in the string.
2) Calculate the tension of the string.
3) Calculate the force at the pin.
4) Measure the actual forces of tension and pin.
5) Calculate your experimental error.
6) Repeat if time permits..

Data & Calculations

Show all your work. Remember to label all data and include the correct unit of measure. Also show any formulas
used prior to substitution.

Conclusion
In your conclusion you should describe how the various forces balanced and combined to produce a net force of
zero. Also remember to discuss any experimental error you might have identified during the experiment.