resolving forces

• Horizontal force


  • All the force is acting in the horizontal direction, no part of the force is acting in the vertical direction
• Vertical force


  • All the force is acting in the vertical direction, no part of the force is acting in the horizontal direction
• Diagonal force


  • Part of the force is acting horizontally (in the x-direction)
  • Part of the force is acting vertically (in the y-direction)
• Resolving a single force into two components

  1. Draw x and y axes

  2. Determine the horizontal and vertical components
• The two components must be at right angles to each other
• Vector diagram


  A diagram that shows the magnitude and direction of a force
• Determining the horizontal and vertical components of a 100 Newton force acting at 35 degrees to the horizontal

  1. Draw a scale vector diagram

  2. Measure the lengths of the horizontal and vertical components

  3. Calculate the magnitudes of the horizontal and vertical components
• The horizontal component is 83 Newtons

  The vertical component is 57 Newtons
• In the exam, it's a good idea to blob out any faint lines used to construct the diagram
• Determining the horizontal and vertical components of a 75 Newton force acting at 20 degrees to the horizontal

  1. Draw a scale vector diagram

  2. Measure the lengths of the horizontal and vertical components

  3. Calculate the magnitudes of the horizontal and vertical components
• The horizontal component is 70 Newtons

  The vertical component is 25 Newtons
• More questions on resolving forces can be found in the Vision workbook, available by clicking the link