ANALYSIS

The concept being presented in this experiment is about torque or also known as the
moment of force. It is the tendency and the ability of a force to rotate an object with account
to its axis of rotation. A force is a causation of the motion of an object, in relating with the
condition of a torque, it can be regarded as a twist or a swirl movement to a subject. It means
that torque is directly proportional to the magnitude of the force vector suspended on the
distance of the force exerted vertical to the center of rotation. This is also the state of the
body either at rest or in motion that the resultant force is zero.
The theory states that in order to achieve equilibrium, conditions are to be met. First
is that the net force acting on the objects in all directions are balanced so that the net force is
zero; the second provision is that the net torque must also be zero. The materials used in this
experiment includes model balance, set of weights, meterstick, protractor, weight pans and
spring balance.
Torque is the vector product of the displacement vector and the force vector which is
mathematically expressed as 𝜏 = 𝑟 ∗ F r or 𝜏 = 𝑟𝐹𝑠𝑖𝑛∅, where 𝜏 is torque, r is the
displacement vector and F is the force vector.
During the group’s experiment, one of the problems encountered is that the metal
balance lacks two of its screws on the left side which somehow affects the experiment. In
order to balance the initial set up, we placed pieces of paper to the hole that lacks screws
until the set up finds its initial equilibrium. Data gathering was fast after the set up was
finalized and we didn’t have a hard time using the equipments for the experiment.
The first objective of the experiment is to apply the 2nd Condition of Equilibrium in
analysing systems that are in rotational equilibrium, meaning in this set up, in order for the
set up to be in equilibrium, the net torque should be zero, 𝛴𝜏 = 0. In this part of the
experiment, one pan is added weights while the other pan is leaved empty, the set-up’s
equilibrium is to be found by adjusting the pans on the model balance. The table below
shows the gathered information in Part A of the experiment.
Table No. 1 Determining the Weight of Pans
Trial L1 L2 L1 L2 P1 P2
W1 = 10 g
1 W2 = 5 g 15 cm 21.5 cm 19 cm 16.5 cm 26.3898 g 25.3882 g

W1 = 15 g
2 14 cm 22 cm 9 cm 9 cm 27.9114 g 24.4879 g
W2 = 25 g

Noting that the mass of the two weight pans is 24.8 grams. After the set up was
finalized by putting pieces of paper in the empty slots in the model balance, we added 10 g of
weight on P1 which I on the left side while keeping the other pan empty on the first part of
trial 1. We found the equilibrium of the system at a distance of 15 cm (L1) from the origin
and 21.5 cm (L2) on the side where the pan is kept empty. On the second part of the trial, pan
1 is empty and Pan 2 is added with 5 g, the equilibrium is found 19 cm (L1) on the side of
Pan 1 and 16.5 cm (L2) on Pan 2. The computed P1 is 26.3898 g and is found using the
𝑷 𝑳 −𝑾 𝑳
formula 𝑷𝟏 = 𝟐 𝟐𝑳 𝟏 𝟏 and the computed P2, 25.3882 was solved using the formula
𝟏
𝑊𝟏 𝑳𝟒 𝑳𝟏 −𝑾𝟏 𝑳𝟏 𝑳𝟑
𝑷𝟐 = .
𝑳𝟐 𝑳𝟑 −𝑳𝟒 𝑳𝟏
The second trial used follows the same procedure but we used different weights as stated on
the manual. The weights added on 𝑃1 is 15 g on the first part of the trial and the equilibrium
is found 14 cm from the origin to 𝑃1 and 22 cm from the origin to 𝑃2 . The weights added on
𝑃2 is 25 g on the latter part of the trial, the equilibrium is at the distance of 9 cm from the
origin to both 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 . The computed P1 and 𝑃2 are 27.9114 g and 24.4879 g which are
solved using the same formulas as above.
The average weight of the Pan 1 (27.1506) and Pan 2 (24.9381) is found by using the
𝛴𝑃 𝛴𝑃
formula 21 (computed) and 22 (computed). Percent difference is computed for both P1 and
𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
𝑃2 by the formula 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 ∗ 100. The percent difference of P1 is
2
8.66 percent and 0.55 percent for 𝑃2 .

The objective of the second part of the experiment is to find out the weight of a rigid
body using 2nd Condition of Equilibrium. In this part, the second hole is treated as the center
of the system, the side of the 𝑃2 will be in constant weight and distance and the adjustment
and weight is added on P1 to determine the weight of the beam.

Table No. 2 Determining the Weight of the Beam

Trial L1 L2 W1 + P2 WB(computed)
1 13.5 cm 7.5 cm 74.8 g 134.64
2 12 cm 7.5 cm 84.8 g 135.68
3 10.5 cm 7.5 cm 94.8 g 132.72

On the first trial the instruction was to put 50 g weight on P1, since the other side of
the model balanced is set to be stationary and in placed, the adjustment was made on the side
of P1. the equilibrium was found 13.5 cm from the center of the model balance which is in
the second hole to P1. Since the system for the part 2 of the experiment requires the
adjustment was made on the side of the P1, the other side of the metal balance is constant at a
distance of 7.5 cm for all trials. On the second trial, we added 60 g weight on P1 and the
measured L1 is 12 cm while on the last trial, we added 70 g weights on P1 and the measured
L1 is 10.5 cm. The fourth column in the graph is found by adding the weight of the Pan which
is 24.8 g and the added weight to the pan.
(𝑷 𝑾 )𝑳
The computed WB was solved by using the formula 𝑊𝐵 = 𝟏+𝑳 𝟏 𝟏 . The computed
𝟐
WB for the first trial is 134.64, 135.68 for the second trial, and 132.72for the last trial. The
measured WB is 137.20 and the average weight of the beam is 134.34 with a percent
difference of 2.12 percent.
As observed from the table, as the weight of the pan increases, the distance at which
the system is at equilibrium decreases at the condition that the distance of L2 remained
constant.
SAMPLE COMPUTATION

Table No. 1 𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑃𝑎𝑛𝑠

(DERIVING EQUATIONS OF 𝑃1 and 𝑃2 )

𝑃2 𝐿2 − 𝑊1 𝐿1 𝑃2 𝐿4 − 𝑊2 𝐿4
(𝑃1 + 𝑊1 )𝐿1 = 𝑃2 𝐿2 ) =
𝐿1 𝐿3

(𝑃1 𝐿1 + 𝑊1 𝐿1 = 𝑃2 𝐿2 ) 𝑃2 𝐿2 𝐿3 − 𝑊1 𝐿1 𝐿3 = 𝑃2 𝐿4 𝐿1 − 𝑊2 𝐿4 𝐿1
𝑃2 𝐿2 − 𝑊1 𝐿1
𝑃1 = (𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑃1 ) 𝑃2 𝐿2 𝐿3 − 𝑃2 𝐿4 𝐿1 = 𝑊1 𝐿1 𝐿3 − 𝑊2 𝐿41 𝐿3
𝐿1

𝑊1 𝐿1 𝐿3 −𝑊2 𝐿4 1 𝐿3
𝑃2 = (used equation for 𝑃2 )
𝐿2 𝐿3 −𝐿4 𝐿1
𝑈𝑆𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑇𝑅𝐼𝐴𝐿 1

𝑃2 𝐿2 − 𝑊1 𝐿1 𝑊1 𝐿1 𝐿3 −𝑊2 𝐿4 1 𝐿3
𝑃1 = 𝑃2 =
𝐿1 𝐿2 𝐿3 −𝐿4 𝐿1
(25.3882)(21.5)−(10)(15) (5)(16.5)(15)+(10)(15)(19)
𝑃1 = 𝑃2 =
15 (21.5)(19)−(16.5)(15)
𝑃1 = 26.3898 𝑔 𝑃2 = 25.3882 𝑔

AVERAGE WEIGHT OF P1 PERCENT DIFFERENCE OF P1

26.3898+27.9114 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
= 𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 ∗ 100
2
2
24.8−27.1506
= 27.1506 𝑔 = 24.8−27.1506 ∗ 100
2
= 8.66%

Table No. 2 𝐷𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑊𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐵𝑒𝑎𝑚

𝑈𝑆𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑇𝑅𝐼𝐴𝐿 1 𝑈𝑆𝐼𝑁𝐺 𝑇𝑅𝐼𝐴𝐿 2

(𝑷𝟏+ 𝑾𝟏 )𝑳𝟏 (𝑷𝟏+ 𝑾𝟏 )𝑳𝟏

𝑊𝐵 = 𝑊𝐵 =
𝑳𝟐 𝑳𝟐
(74.8 𝑔)(13.5) (84.8 𝑔)(12)
𝑊𝐵 = 𝑊𝐵 =
13.5 12
𝑊𝐵 = 132.72 𝑔 𝑊𝐵 = 134.94 𝑔

PERCENT DIFFERENCE

𝐴𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒−𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

∗ 100
𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑉𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

(137.2𝑔)(134.34))
= ∗ 100 = 2.12 %
134.34
CONCLUSION

The 2nd condition of equilibrium, torque is a vector quantity and is the rotational
counterpart of force. The direction and magnitude of the force are integrated to torque. To
achieve the system’s equilibrium, the torque must be zero and all other external forces acting
on the system must equal to zero. The factors affecting the torque is the displacement of the
object from the axis of rotation and the magnitude of the force that is exerted to it.
The experiment was done in attempt to determine the systems equilibrium and apply
the second condition of equilibrium. During the experiment, we analysed the system of our
set up and figured out how the system will achieve its balance and how torque is applied to it.
The objective in the first part of the experiment is to apply the 2nd Condition of
Equilibrium in analysing the systems and it is found that as the weight is added to Pan 1, the
system is at equilibrium when Pan 1 is placed closer to the rotational axis and placing Pan 2
farther than Pan 1 from the rotational axis. In summary of this part of the experiment, it is
concluded that torque is affected by the forces acting on the system which can be observed
by the distance or location at which the force is exerted. As observed, shorter distance
requires or inhabits greater force and the farther from the axis of rotation the object is, the
lesser force.
On the second part of the experiment, the objective is to examine and found out the
weight of a rigid body using the 2nd Condition of Equilibrium. This part of the experiment
stresses that in for a rigid body to find its equilibrium all net forces should be zero. As
observed in the table above as the weight of the pan increases, the distance at which the
system is at equilibrium decreases at the condition that the distance of L2 remained constant.
The computed experimental values are below the 10% and the physical environment
at which the experiment was held affected our gathered value and the. On the second table,
the computed WB is not constantly decreasing, we might have had errors in gathering data or
solving for the values.