UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA

Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering

__________________________________________________________________

COURSE INFORMATION

COURSE TITLE: ENGINEERING LABORATORY I (DDA 2711)

TOPIC: EQUILIBRIUM OF FORCES

1. INTRODUCTION

The parallelogram law gives the rule for vector addition of vectors A and B. The
sum A+B of the vectors is obtained by placing those head to tail and drawing the
vecor from the free tail to the free head. The components form the sides of the
parallelogram and the resultant is the diagonal.

2. OBJECTIVES

The objective of this experiment is to test that when three non-parallel forces in the
same plane are in equilibrium, their line of action meet at a point, and hence to
show that the resultant of two forces can be found using the Parallelogram of
Forces.

3. LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this experiment, students should be able to understand the concept of
Parallelogram of Forces.

4. EXPERIMENTAL THEORY

When two forces act on a body in different directions in one plane, they are
equivalent to single force (the resultant) acting somewhere in between them. An
example of this is when a sledge is pulled by two horizontal ropes spread at an
angle; the sledge will move in a direction between the ropes along the line of their
resultant force. Until the sledge moves, it will pull back against the ropes with a
single horizontal force equal and opposite to the resultant of the two ropes forces.
It can be shown that when three such forces are balanced (that is, in equilibrium),
their lines of action all meet at a point. Using this fact, the resultant of two forces
in the same plane at an angle can be found by graphical method called the
Parallelogram of Forces. To maintain equilibrium it is necessary and sufficient
that the resultant force acting on a rigid body to be equal to zero. In terms of
Newton’s laws of motion, this is expressed mathematically as:

 F  0 ; Where,  F is the vector sum of all forces acting on the particle.

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 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
__________________________________________________________________
When the body is subjected to a system of forces which all lie in the x-y plane, the
forces can be resolved into their x and y components. Consequently, the
conditions for equilibrium in two dimensions can be written in scalar form as:

F X  0 and F y 0

  
Let’s say that there are three forces namely F1 , F2 and F3 acts on a body as
shown in Figure 1.
F2 F1
 2 1

F3
Figure 1: Free Body Diagram
  
For equilibrium, this equation must be equal to zero. Hence, F1  F2  F3  0 .
  
Therefore, F1  F2   F3 .
F x  0; F1 sin 1  F2 sin  2  0
The sum of forces of x components, F1 sin  2 …(1)
 
F2 sin 1
The sum of forces of y components, F y  0; F1 cos 1  F2 cos  2  F3  0 …(2)

5. EXPERIMENTAL EQUIPMENTS

Table 1: Parallelogram of Forces Equipment List

No. Apparatus Qty.

1 Diagram board with clips ( P 3 ) 1
2 Short Screws 2
3 Pulleys ( P12) 2
4 Knurled Nuts 4
5 Weight Hooks [0.1N] ( P10) 3
6 Set of Weights 0.05N, 0.1N, 0.5N, 1N, 2N 1
7 Ring with 3 cords attached 1
8 Protractor 1
9 Some sheets of plain paper

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 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
__________________________________________________________________

6. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

1. Prepare the mounting panel as shown in Figure 2.

2. Clip a sheet of paper to the diagram board.
3. Attach the weight of 0.3N to the weight hook no 3 and the weight of
0.2N to the weight hook no 1 and 2. Write in the weight supported by
each cord W1, W2 and W3 (including 0.1N which is the weight of
each weight hook).
4. Mark the position of the three cords with pencil dots on the paper,
join up the dots and record the angle reading of 1 and  2 .
5. Increase the W1 weight to 0.35N.
6. Mark the position of the three cords with pencil dots on the paper,
join up the dots and record the angle reading of 1 and  2 .
7. Repeat step 5 and 6 while you adjust the weights of W1 to 0.4N and
0.45N.
8. Repeat step 2 until 7 to fulfil the required data as in the following
table.

Figure 2: Parallelogram of Forces Apparatus Setup

7. OBSERVATIONS

W 1 F1 sin  2
1. Plot the graph of  against .
W 2 F2 sin 1

2. In each of your diagram, the lines representing the cord positions

should be meets at the centre of the ring. Along the upper cord lines,
mark off lengths OA and OB to represent the pull of weights W1 and
W2 (Figure 3). Choose a suitable scale for this, (e.g. 50mm per N).
Through A draw a line AC parallel to OB, and through B draw a line

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 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
__________________________________________________________________

BC parallel to OA, to from the parallelogram OACB. Draw in the

  
diagonal OC. This is the resultant force, F of the vector F1 and F2 .

3. Measure the length and direction of OC.

8. DISCUSSIONS

1. Discuss the graphs obtained.

2. Discuss the parallelogram diagrams obtained.

9. QUESTIONS

1. Explain the parallelogram method to find the resultant of two parallel

forces.

2. What are the alternative methods that can be used to analyze the
addition of two forces?

10. CONCLUSION

Deduce conclusions from the experiment. Please comment on your experimental

work in terms of achievement, problems faced throughout the experiment and
suggest recommendation for improvements.

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 UNIVERSITI TUN HUSSEIN ONN MALAYSIA
Faculty of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
__________________________________________________________________

11. DATA SHEETS

Table 2: Results

Weight Angle Angle Ratio

sin  2 W 1 F1
No. W3 W2 W1 sin 1 sin  2 
1 2 W 2 F2
(N) (N) (N) sin 1

0.30

0.35
1 0.40 0.30
0.40

0.45

0.90

1.00
2 1.10 1.10
1.10

1.20

1.60

1.70
3 1.60 1.60
1.80

1.90

* Data sheet must approved by the instructor.