Wright State University Lake Campus/2016-9/Phy1110/log/Rimstock

Vector Balancing

• The objective of this experiment is to observe the balancing forces behind the vectors formed by a 3 4 5 triangle using three weight holders on a vector table.
  • Experimental Steps
    • Set two weight holders 90 degrees apart, preferably set at 0 and 90 degrees
    • Place 250g at 0 degrees, 200g at unknown, and 150g at 90degrees respectively on each weight holder
    • Experiment by moving the third weight until the vectors have balanced and the ring is centered
    • Measure and document the largest unknown angle on your vector table
    • Using this formula, find actual value of this angle

      • $\theta _{\text{actual}}=180-\left(\operatorname {arctan} {\frac {3}{4}}\right)\cdot {\frac {180\deg }{\pi }}$

    • Divide actual angle measurement by the difference between actual and measured angle to determine error percentage

• • Results
    • We found our largest measured angle to be 144 degrees and calculated the actual angle to be 143 degrees, resulting in a ~.7% error