GRAVESAND

APPARATUS

EES-8651
 Gravesand Apparatus

NOTE:

Every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this manual is accurate;
however no labiality is accepted for errors. Should an error be discovered please inform the
company in writing, giving full details. Any experimental results given are for guidance only and
are not guaranteed as exact answers that can be obtained for a given apparatus; due to the
complex variables applicable to most experiments.

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 Gravesand Apparatus

Table of Contents
Page
1. INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................... 1

2. GENERAL DISCRIPTION ........................................................................................... 2

2.1 Unit Assembly ............................................................................................................ 2

3. SUMMARY OF THEORY ............................................................................................ 3

3.1 Triangle Law of Forces ............................................................................................... 3
3.2 Coplanar Concurrent Force System ............................................................................ 3
3.3 Parallelogram Law of Forces ...................................................................................... 5

4. EXPERIMENT ............................................................................................................... 6
4.1 Objective ..................................................................................................................... 6
4.2 Procedure .................................................................................................................... 6
4.3 Observations ............................................................................................................... 7

APPENDIX A Experimental Data Sheets

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 Gravesand Apparatus

1 INTRODUCTION:

The EES® Gravesand Apparatus is a laboratory apparatus helping the engineering

students to perform an experiment in the subject Engineering Mechanics, for verifying
the "triangle Law of Forces", and the parallelogram law of addition of vectors.

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 Gravesand Apparatus

2 GENERAL DESCRIPTION:

2.1 Unit Assembly:

5
2

3
4

1. Frictionless Pulley 2. Base Frame

3. Spirit level 4. Spring Balances
5. Hooks for spring balances 6. Gravesand’s apparatus Sheet

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3 SUMMARY OF THEORY:

3.1 Triangle Law of Forces:

The Triangle Law of Forces states that if three coplanar forces acting on a particle
can be represented in magnitude and direction by the three sides of a triangle
taken in order, the forces will be in equilibrium. This law can also be stated as “if
two forces acting on a particle are represented in magnitude and direction by the
two sides of a triangle taken in order then their resultant will be given by three
sides of a triangle taken in opposite direction”.

The Force Balance Diagram of joint O (Fig. 1) shows that there are three forces
acting at point O.

Figure: 1

Weight W acting downwards, Tensile force (T) develops in other two ends.

3.2 Coplanar Concurrent Force System:

In Force Balance Diagram of joint O (Fig. 2) since all the three forces lie in the
same plane and meet at the common point B. The system is Coplanar Concurrent
force system.
According to Lami’s Theorem

α β

Figure: 2

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 Gravesand Apparatus

P Q R
= = (1)
sin α sin β sin γ

Therefore;

From geometry of triangle ABC;

AC 2 + BC 2 − AB 2
cos(90 − β ) =
2. AC . BC
AC 2 + AB 2 − BC 2
cos(90 − α ) =
2. AC . AB

By applying Lami’s Theorem;

T W
=
sin(90 + α ) sin(180 − α − β )
C W
=
sin(90 + β ) sin(180 − α − β )

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 Gravesand Apparatus

3.3 Parallelogram Law of Forces:

The Parallelogram Law of Forces states that if a particle is acted by two forces
represented in magnitude and direction by the two sides of a parallelogram drawn
from a point then the resultant is completely represented by the diagonal passing
through the same point.

Percentage Error:

R − R1
% error = x 100 (2)
R

R = actual weight of body measured from spring balance

R 1 = calculated weight of body from experiment

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 Gravesand Apparatus

4 EXPERIMENT

4.1 Objective:

To find the weight of a given body using Parallelogram Law of Vector Addition

4.2 Procedure:

1. Set up the Gravesand's apparatus and ensure its board is vertical. This can be
tested using the Spirit level. Test if the pulleys (let us name them - P1 and Q1)
are frictionless. If you feel any friction, oil them.
2. Fix the white drawing paper sheet to the board using the tape.
3. Take three pieces of strong threads and tie one end of all three together to
make a knot. (Let us name this knotted end - O). This knot becomes the
junction of the three threads.
4. From the other ends of the two threads, tie a weight hanger with the same
slotted weights in each or spring balance on each side; we will name these
weights as P and Q.

5. From the end of third thread tie the given body, or unknown weight, or any
other body whose mass should be needed which we will name as S.
6. Pass the threads with weights P and Q over the pulleys and let the third thread
with the block S, stay vertical in the middle of the board.
7. The weights P, Q and the wooden block S acts as the three forces along the
three threads. At the junction O, the forces are in equilibrium.
8. Now adjust the weights P and Q (forces) such that the junction O stays in
equilibrium slightly below the middle of the paper.
9. See that all the weights hang freely and that none of them touch the board or
the table.
10. Mark the position of junction O on the paper using a sharp pencil.
11. Slightly disturb the weights P and Q and then leave them.
12. Once settled, note the position of junction O. Make sure that this point is very
close to the earlier position.
13. Take the mirror strip and keeping it lengthwise under each thread, mark the
position of the ends of the image of the thread in the mirror, covering the
image by the thread. These new positions are P1, P2 for the thread with the

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 Gravesand Apparatus

weight P, and Q1 and Q2 for the thread with the weight Q and S1, S2 for the
thread with the weight S.

14. Remove the paper from the board and with the help of the half meter scale
draw lines through the points P1 and P2 to represent P, through points Q1 and
Q2 to represent Q and through points S1 and S2 to represent S. These lines
must meet at point O.
15. Assuming a scale of 1cm = 50 g, mark OA, OB.
16. Complete parallelogram OACB using the set squares or compass and join OC.
17. This represents the resultant vector R which corresponds to the weight S.
18. Measure OC and multiply it by the scale (50 g) to get the value of the
unknown weight (S).
19. For different sets of observation, change P and Q suitably.
20. We can find the weight of the Unknown body (R) using the equation (1).
21. Take the mean of the two values to get the actual weight of the body.
22. To find the percentage error in the experiment, measure the actual weight of
the body using a spring balance.
23. Calculate the percentage error using equation (2).

4.3 Observations:

Scale:__________

Force Sides Resultant Actual

Sr. %
Force Weight
no. P Q OA OB OC Error
R W
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

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APPENDIX A
Experimental Data Sheets

EES-8651
 Gravesand Apparatus

EXPERIMENT

Scale:__________

Force Sides Resultant Actual

Sr. %
Force Weight
no. P Q OA OB OC Error
R W
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Scale:__________

Force Sides Resultant Actual

Sr. %
Force Weight
no. P Q OA OB OC Error
R W
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Scale:__________

Force Sides Resultant Actual

Sr. %
Force Weight
no. P Q OA OB OC Error
R W
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Scale:__________

Force Sides Resultant Actual

Sr. %
Force Weight
no. P Q OA OB OC Error
R W
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

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