Answers to GCSE Forces and Equilibrium

Practice Questions

1.What conditions must be met for an object to be in equilibrium?

The resultant force on the object is 0N.

There is no overall moment (turning effects) on the object. 

2.How do you resolve a force into components when dealing with non-parallel forces?

Vertical and horizontal arrows are drawn from the origin of the diagonal force arrow to form a rectangle complete shape using dotted lines. These arrows are drawn on scaled paper. A more detailed method is shown below. 

Draw the Force: Represent the given force as an arrow on graph paper, using a scale (e.g., 1 cm = 10 N).

Draw Axes: Draw two perpendicular axes, typically horizontal (x-axis) and vertical (y-axis).

Resolve the Force: From the tip of the force arrow, draw lines parallel to the axes.

Measure Components: The length of these lines, measured according to the scale, gives the magnitude of the horizontal and vertical components of the force.

3.Explain the significance of a resultant force being zero.

This means that the object is in equilibrium