Lesson Plan: Forces in Equilibrium
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to resolve forces into two perpendicular directions and use them to find a missing force in equilibrium.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- find a missing force given that the forces are in equilibrium,
- find a missing force in a word problem given that the forces are in equilibrium.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- forces given in terms of unit vectors, given in polar form, and represented graphically,
- the magnitudes and directions of forces,
- adding and subtracting forces,
- resolving forces into horizontal and vertical components,
- inclined planes.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- finding the resultant of forces that are acting at different points,
- the triangle of forces,
- Lami’s theorem.