Sailboat Lab

Find the tipping point!

Looking down onto the boat:

Measure:

Weight of sail and boat (in grams)
Lengths of boat and sail (in cm)
Lengths to center of mass of boat and sail (where does it balance?)

Set up an excel file to calculate the angle between the sail and the boat that will make the boat tip over.

Example:
BL - boat length
al - axle length
S = Distance to sail
Fsj - force of sail pulling down
fbj = force of boat pulling down
BC = Distance to boat's center of mass
SC = Distance to Sail's center of mass
B° = Angle between boat and tipping axis
db = perpendicular distance between Fbj and tipping axis
ds = perpendicular distance between Fsj and tipping axis
S° = angle between sail and boat


Set up an excel file to calculate everything
(note, the numbers below are made up)
 

Test your calculations - use a protractor to measure the angle where the boat tips over, how does it compare?