Methodology Meter Stick Marker Protractor Graphing paper Polygon Method We started off by marking the initial position

of one member of our group. We made the member undergo the following successive displacement: first, 1 meter headingeast, second, 2.5 meter heading north, then 3 meters in a 30 degree angle heading North of West, and last, 1.0 meter heading South of East. We marked his final position. We drew an arrow from his initial position to final position, which represents his resultant displacement. We determined the magnitude as well as the direction of the member s resultant displacement using the ruler and protractor. Example of Polygon Method

moved) to a common origin and the parallelogram constructed as follows:

Component Method The components of a vector are those vectors which, when added together, give the original vector.

The components could be determined by constructing a scale diagram, but they are easily calculated as follows (Note: It is convenient to specify clockwise from North when referring to displacements

Parallelogram Method In the parallelogram method for vector addition, the vectors are translated, (i.e., on the earth:on the earth: A1, the component in an easterly direction, will have a magnitude |A1| =

|A| cos . A2, the component in a northerly direction, will have a magnitude |A2| =|A|sin

http://www.physchem.co.za/Vectors/Additi on.htm