Forces, Composition of

When several forces act in a different direction upon a point they may be drawn or graphically represented as arrows or lines emanating from the point in the proper direction and of lengths proportional to the force they exercise. Any two can be treated as contiguous sides of a parallelogram and the parallelogram can be completed. Then its diagonal, called the resultant, will represent the combined action of the two forces, both as regards direction and intensity. This is the composition of two forces. If more than two forces act upon the given point the resultant can be composed with any of the others and a new force developed. The new resultant can be combined with another force, and the proce kept up, eliminating the components one by one until a final resultant of all is obtained. This will give the exact direction and intensity of the forces, however many or varied. 261   STANDARD ELECTRICAL DICTIONARY.