Introduction to Statics
Prepared by: Engr. Anna Jedidiah Roque
Session 2
Excellence and Relevance
Objectives for today’s discussion:
1. To have an idea of what Statics is all about.
2. To recall previous principles discussed in Physics.
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
What is Engineering Mechanics?
Mechanics:
• branch of physics that considers the action of forces on bodies or fluids that are in rest or
motion
• basic foundation of many engineering applications
• divided into 3 main branches:
1. Rigid-body mechanics
i. statics - concerns the equilibrium of bodies under action of forces
ii. dynamics - concerns with the accelerated motion of bodies
2. Deformable-body mechanics
3. Fluid Mechanics
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Basic Quantities
The following quantities/dimensions are used throughout mechanics:
1. Length
• Used to locate the position of a point in space, hence, describing the size of an
object
• Defines distances and geometric properties
2. Time
3. Mass
4. Force
• Considers as a “push” or “pull” exerted by one body on another
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Idealizations
Used in mechanics to simplify the application of theory
1. Particle
• Has a mass, but a size that can be neglected
• If we consider an object to be a particle, we rule out the involvement of the
object’s geometric properties
2. Rigid Body
• A body that doesn’t deform under applied force
3. Concentrated Force
• Represents the effect of a loading which is assumed to act at a point on the body
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
Engineering Mechanics is formulated on the basis of Newton’s three laws of Motion.
1. First Law
• An object will remain at rest, or in uniform motion in a straight line, unless acted
upon by an external force.
2. Second Law
• A particle acted upon by an unbalanced force F experiences an acceleration a that
has the same direction as the force and a magnitude that is directly proportional to
the force.
3. Third Law
• For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Weight
• The force exerted on the object due to gravity
• Depends on the object’s mass and the gravitational acceleration
• Given by the formula:
𝑊 = 𝑚𝑔
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Units of Measurement
• two commonly used system of units:
1. SI Units
• A.k.a. the International System of
Units
• A modern version of the metric
system
• g = 9.81 m/s2
2. U.S. Customary
• g = 32.2 ft/s2
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Conversion of Units
• The table provides a set of direct conversion factors between FPS and SI units for the
basic quantities:
• Commonly used conversions:
⚬ 1000 mm = 1m
⚬ 100 cm = 1m
⚬ 1000 m = 1km
⚬ 1m = 3.28 ft
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Example
1. Convert 100 kph to m/s.
2. Convert 2 kph to ft/s.
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The International System of Units
Prefixes
• When a numerical quantity is either very large or very small, the units used to define its size
may be modified by using a prefix
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Other prefixes
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Example
1. Convert 300 lb·s to SI units.
2. Convert 52 slug/ft3 to SI units.
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
How can you accurately solve Engineering
Mechanics problems?
• An individual can divide his/her solution into various parts:
⚬ GIVEN
⚬ FIND
⚬ SOLUTION
⚬ VALIDATION
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Force
Vectors
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Scalars and vectors
Many physical quantities in engineering mechanics are measured using either scalars or vectors.
1. Scalar
• Any physical quantity that can be completely specified by its magnitude
• Ex: Length, mass, & time
2. Vector
• Any physical quantity that requires both a magnitude & direction
• Ex: Force, position, and moment
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Notation of scalar & vector quantities
Scalar
written as italicized English or Greek letters
⚬ Ex: “t“ for time & 𝜃 for angle
Vector
written as boldface letters or with an arrow/line on top of the letter
⚬ Ex: F for force or F
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Fundamental Properties
of Vectors
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Vectors as Directed Line Segments
• Any vector A can be represented geometrically as a directed line segment (an arrow) as shown:
• Magnitude of A is denoted by A, and the direction of A is specified by the sense of arrow and the angle
θ it makes with a fixed reference line
• When using graphical methods, the length of the arrow is drawn proportional to the magnitude of the
vector
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Equality of Vectors
• two vectors A & B (A = B) are said to be equal if:
⚬ their magnitudes are equal (A = B)
⚬ they have the same direction
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Scalar-Vector Multiplication
The multiplication of a scalar m and a vector A, written as mA or Am, is defined as follows:
1. If m is positive, mA is the vector magnitude of mA that has the same direction as A.
2. If m is negative, mA is the vector magnitude of |m|A that is oppositely directed to A.
3. If m = 0, mA (called the null or zero vector) is a vector of magnitude and arbitrary
direction
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Unit Vector, 𝛌
• A vector that has a magnitude of 1 and its direction is the same as its reference vector
• Thus, if 𝛌 represents a unit vector (| 𝛌 | = 1) with the same direction as A, we can write:
A=A𝛌
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Vector
Operations
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Multiplication & Division of a Vector by a
Scalar
• If a vector is multiplied by or divided by a positive scalar, its magnitude is increased or decreased by
that amount
• Graphic examples are shown below:
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Vector Addition
• When adding two vectors together, it is important to account for both their magnitude and their
directions
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The Parallelogram Law for
Addition and the Triangle
Law
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The Parallelogram Law for Addition
Given vectors A & B and their resultant, R:
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The Triangle Law for Addition
Given vectors A & B and their resultant, R:
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Special Case
If the two vectors A and B are collinear, both have the same line of action, the parallelogram law
reduces to algebraic or scalar addition R = A + B.
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Subtraction of Vectors
• the subtraction of two vectors A and B, written as A – B, is defined as:
𝑅′ = 𝐴 − 𝐵 = 𝐴 + (−𝐵)
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Sine and
Cosine Law
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Sine Law
• given the triangle below:
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Cosine Law
• given the triangle below:
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Sample Problem
The screw eye is subjected to two forces, F1 and F2. Determine the magnitude and direction of the
resultant force.
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Sample Problem
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Sample Problem
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Sample Problem
Determine the magnitude of the component force F and the magnitude if the resultant force FR
if FR is directed along the positive y-axis.
Excellence and Relevance Prepared by: Anna Jedidiah S. Roque, RCE
Sample Problem
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Sample Problem
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Questions?
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