Analysis:

In the First Laboratory Experiment that we had on the date of October 15

2014, we have experimented about the Topic Resolution of Forces in Physics.
Physical Quantities can be expressed in two different forms which is scalar
quantity and Vector quantity. First is the Scalar quantity which is a measurement
that can give length of an object which is the distance that it can cover and with
direction on which the direction of the object goes When Measuring Scalar
Quantities, it involves the magnitude of mass, distance, time and so on and so
forth. The Next one is the Vector which gives more detailed information about a
quantity. Vectors are commonly used for measurements like force and such. An
example to differentiate Scalar from Vector is that when locating an object. For
scalar, an object is 10 meters away while for vector, the object is 10 meters, to the
right. As you can see, vectors feature a more informative type of information. In
the Experiment of Resolution of Forces, the topic of Force can be expressed in
newtons and in dynes which is a part of the Metric System. While in other parts of
the world where the English system of Measurements is used, pounds is used. In
the experiment of determining the vector of which the system of pulleys would
reach equilibrium by being in the center of the Force table which is displayed in
Figure no. 1.

Figure No. 1

In the Figure, the Force table is operated by putting weights in the ends of
the force table with respect to Angles inscribed. The pulleys can operate on a
maximum of 200 grams where when more than 200 grams of force is applied, the
string could and might break due to the force exceeding the capacity of the string.
Furthermore, the pulleys have a weight of 5 grams so when trying to reach the
weight of 50 grams, 45 grams of weights should be put in order to achieve the
desired weight of 50 grams.

Figure No. 2

In Figure number 2 is the given set of Slotted Mass which are Circular disks
that are in a fixed mass with respect to their volume. In the Figure above, the most
upper left in the set weighs 1 gram then as the slotted mass disc go down, the mass
is to 2 grams, then 5 grams, 10 grams and lastly 20 grams. On the other hand, the
right side of the weights ranges from 50 grams to 100 grams with 100 grams being
the thickest and the heaviest of the weights.

Figure No. 3
In the Next picture which is Figure number 3, the electronic balance which is used
to measure accurately the mass of an object placed on the plate. The object placed
on the plate is a disc from the Slotted mass set which is weighing at 50 grams. But
on the contrary, the scale measures 49.8 with a discrepancy of .2 to the original
mass written on the set. Many factors could be considered on determining whether
the scale is malfunctioning and the disc weighs exactly 50 grams, or the scale
functions well and due to the age and times the disc was used, the mass reduced .2
grams giving the value of 49.8 grams. This tiny difference is not that significant
due to the level of experiment the lab participants are conducting. With our Lab
Instructor Giving us the initial data for the experiment, we the students are tasked
to find the fourth Force which will exert force on a certain direction or angle which
a certain weight
. The Experiment consists of 2 trials with different measurements for each
trial but both has objectives of finding the fourth Force to put the disk in the
equilibrium state. The First trial have the initial data of 50 grams of force with an
angle of 20 degrees, 50 grams of force with an angle of 70 degrees and lastly 75
grams of force with an angle of 45 degrees. Whereas the second trial consists of an

initial data of 75 grams of force with an angle of 0 degrees, 20 grams of force with
an angle of 30 degrees and lastly 40 grams of force with an angle of 300 degrees.
To better illustrate, the table No. 1 represents a table of the Initial data.

Trial 1
F1
F2
F3

Force
50 g
50 g
75 g

Trial 2
Angle
20
70
45

Force
75 g
20 g
40 g

Angle
0
30
300

Table No. 1
3 Separate methods are required to compute for the F4 for trial 1 and trial 2.
The Methods are as Follows: Experimental, Component and Polygon Methods.
Experimental Method is the where without much analytical computation and
manually adjusting the weights and the angle for the missing F4 . Next is the
Component method which is by computing for the X components and the Y
components shown in the figure No. 4.

F
Y component

X Component

Figure No. 4

With regard to using the component method, the Triangle shown in Figure
no. 4 will change form depending on the direction of the X component and the Y
component. The changing form of the triangle would help the person to improve
and gather more details with not just finding F4 but with also determining the
direction of the said Vector.
And the last method required to determine the data in the experiment is none
other than the Polygon method. Polygon method often is used to verify whether the
results from the Component method is acceptable or not. Polygon method is used
to draw the magnitude of the vector with their own angles. Polygon method can be
used to draw 3 or more vectors to find a Resultant vector. When drawing 2 vectors,
one could use instead the Parallelogram method or using 2 vectors to find the
resultant vector. When the 2 vectors are joined, they form a Parallelogram where
the bigger diagonal of the Parallelogram would be determined as the Resultant
vector. When using Polygon method, one must remember to indicate the Scale in
the Drawing to indicate the measurements and length used in drawing the Polygon.
Attached herewith is the Paper used to draw the Polygon method. When drawing
the polygon, the vectors head should always join with the connecting vectors tip
to give accuracy to the measurement. . To find the Angles for the Polygon method,
one has to use either the Sine law or the Cosine law. One of these laws or both
could be used to find the missing variable as long as the variables that will be used
is acceptable. The Formulas are as follows:
Cosine Law:
Sine Law:

R2 = F12 + F22 2F1F2Cos

R/sin = F1/ sin 1 = F2 /sin 2

With the groups effort to put the ring in equilibrium state by changing the
pulleys weights and changing the angle of which the ring is being pulled.

Eventually the group got to put the ring in the center but it did not last long
because the table that is not balanced so it was a factor that affected the rings
ability to stay in the center. During Trial 1, the angle was chosen to be at 225 but
the weight was not that easy to find since the table was not balanced. There were
many trial and errors but the group have put the ring in the equilibrium state with
the weight of 165 grams. The grams were not exactly 165 since the electronic scale
displayed a different weight from what the disc was supposed to weight. But
nevertheless, the total weight of the disks were 160 grams and the remaining 5
grams were contributed by the pulleys mass hanger. Next is in Trial 2 where the
same experiment was done but with different Initial data from the first trial. This
time, the group tried to put the force table on the floor and in the floor is where the
group managed to find the mass and angle that will put the ring in equilibrium
state. The group have put found that 115 grams is needed to put the ring in
equilibrium with an angle of 168 degrees.

Conclusion:
With the Theory that Fx = F Cos is used to find the components as

long as it coincides with the Triangle. Its proven that without the formula stated
above, computing for the components may be harder and more complicated.
Furthermore, without the formula above, the steps that will follow for computing
the rest of the Missing variables would be impossible or very complicated. Thus
the Use of the equation acts as the foundation for solving the problem not just in
the experiment but also in other related problems. Also in this Experiment is that
there is no only one way to solve for a problem but there are many ways like for
example is the usage of the Component, Experimental and the Polygon method. As
long as the Data is correctly computed then whether what method is used, the
Answers should correlate with each other even though they involve different
means of achieving that answer. Thus we can say that the Theory was consistent
with the experiment, it was just external factors that affected the process and the
outcome of the results.