How to Find the Magnitude When Force & Angle Is Given?

Push a door at an angle, and less force will turn it.
••• Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

When a force works in the same direction as a body moves, the entire force acts on the body. In many cases, however, the force points in a different direction. When an object slides down a slope, for instance, gravity acts straight downward, but the object moves at an angle. The effective force on the object is a vector quantity related to but separate from the original force. The two vectors are related through trigonometry.

    Subtract the angle between the force and the resultant vector you want to calculate from 90. If, for instance, the force acts at a 30-degree angle from the object's direction of motion then 90 - 30 = 60.

    Find the sine of this angle. With the example for Step 1, sin (60) = 0.866.

    Multiply this answer by the original force. If the force equals, for instance, 100 Newtons then 0.866 × 100 = 86.6 Newtons. This is the magnitude of the resultant force vector on the object.

Related Articles

How to Calculate Pendulum Force
How to Calculate Contact Force
How to Calculate the Mass of a Moving Object
How to Calculate Tangential Force
Difference Between Velocity Time Graph & Position Time...
How to Multiply Vectors
Characteristics of Aquatic Plants
How to Determine Magnitude of Velocity
How to Find the Area of a Parallelogram With Vertices
How to Convert Density to Force per Cubic Meter
How to Find Resultant Displacement in Physics
How to Find the Inertia of an Object
How to Calculate Axial Stress
How to Convert Seconds Into Miles Per Hour
How Is Motion Measured?
How to Calculate the Area of a Curved Surface
How to Calculate Kinetic Energy
How to Calculate kPa

Dont Go!

We Have More Great Sciencing Articles!