Finding the Resultant Force: A Guide to Using Vector Components and Trigonometry

[navarro714]

What type of equation would I use to find the resultant force?

Do I just add the vectors together? Or change them to X and Y variable?

 

[catkin]

You could resolve each vector into x and y components, add the components and "unresolve" the 2 components back into a vector.

 

[PhanthomJay]

You can't just algebraically add them, since in general they have different directions. Split each vector into its x and y components, then add the x components together to get Rx, and add the y components together to get Ry, and use pythagorus to get the magnitude of the resultant force (R = sq. rt. of (Rx^2 + Ry^2)), and use trig to get the direction of the resultant force (Ry/Rx=tan theta.)

 

[Vidatu]

If they are collinear you can just add them, as long as you take sign into account. Otherwise, it is best to resolve them into x,y,and z components.

 

[navarro714]

You can't just algebraically add them, since in general they have different directions. Split each vector into its x and y components, then add the x components together to get Rx, and add the y components together to get Ry, and use pythagorus to get the magnitude of the resultant force (R = sq. rt. of (Rx^2 + Ry^2)), and use trig to get the direction of the resultant force (Ry/Rx=tan theta.)

Thank you! I've been looking through my textbook for an hour! I remeber my teacher telling me about that.