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1.

0 INTRODUCTION

A seesaw (also known as a teeter-totter or teeterboard) is a long, narrow board


supported by a single pivot point, most commonly located at the midpoint between both "ends";
as one end goes up, the other goes down. The most common playground design of seesaw
features a board balanced in the center. A person sits on each end, and they take turns pushing
their feet against the ground to lift their side into the air. Playground seesaws usually have
handles for the riders to grip as they sit facing each other. One problem with the seesaw's design
is that if a child allows himself/herself to hit the ground suddenly after jumping, or exits the
seesaw at the bottom, the other child may fall and be injured. For this reason, seesaws are often
mounted above a soft surface such as foam or wood chips. Seesaws also are manufactured in
shapes designed to look like other things, such as airplanes,helicopters and animals.Seesaws, and
the eagerness of children to play with them, are sometimes used to aid in mechanical processes.
For example, at the Gaviotos community in Colombia, a children's seesaw is connected to a
water pump.

Along with the slide, swing and merry-go-round, the seesaw has won a coveted place in
playgrounds around the world. But in addition to being a children's toy, the seesaw is actually a
fascinating device that uses the same principles of physics at work in cranes, hydraulic lifts,
bottle openers and fingernail clippers. The Clever Lever , In its simplest form, a seesaw is a
lever: a long, rigid arm (like a board or a pole) that hinges on a pivot point called a fulcrum.
Strictly speaking, a lever is actually a machine -- a device that transmits energy in order to do
work -- and by work, we mean the act of exerting a force on an object over a distance. Seemingly
miraculously, a lever does the work for you, allowing you to lift objects you'd never be able to
budge by yourself. This explains why the term "lever" comes from the Latin word for "lift" and
why Archimedes famously commented, "Give me a place to stand and rest my lever on, and I
can move the Earth."

Besides that , seesaw have the torque . Think about pushing a door, which is another kind
of lever. If you push near the hinge, it's pretty difficult to open. By comparison, it's much easier
to push on the end of the door opposite the hinge, and it's best to push at right angles to the door.
This is a result of the principle of torque, or the force of rotation. Torque is the product of the
rotational force exerted at right angles on the lever, times the distance between the point of force
and the fulcrum .Children understand torque instinctively when they're riding a seesaw. If two
children are roughly the same weight and they're each sitting on the ends of the seesaw at points
equidistant from the center, the whole thing will be balanced because they're exerting equal and
oppositely directed forces (gravitational force, or weight). However, if one child is significantly
heavier than the other, the heavier one will have to move closer to the center to achieve this
equilibrium. Altering the force's distance from the fulcrum obviously affects the rotational force
exerted on the other side. So what does this classic playground fixture have to do with lifting
impossibly heavy objects? A 50-pound (22.68-kilogram) child would probably not be able to lift
a 100-pound (45.36-kilogram) child on his own, but he can easily do this on the seesaw just by
changing positions. But notice that the lighter child will travel a farther distance (up and down)
than the heavier child. The fulcrum of a lever allows us to easily manipulate the relationship
between force and distance

From the lever’s point of view, the deformation occurs might be the buckling of columns,
bending moment of structural element and normal stress. For further ado a bending moment is
the reaction induced in a structural element when an external force or moment is applied to the
element causing the element to bend. The most common or simplest structural element subjected
to bending moments is the beam which we can relate it to the horizontal shape of the ice cream
scoop. The example shows that the lever is simply free at both ends. The types of support are
varies from simply supported means that each end of the beam can rotate, therefore each end
support has no bending moment, beams that have both ends fixed, therefore each end support has
both bending moment and shear reaction loads, beams that have one end fixed and one end
simply supported and the simplest type of beam is the cantilever, which is fixed at one end and is
free at the other end (neither simple or fixed). In reality, beam supports are usually neither
absolutely fixed nor absolutely rotating freely.

The internal reaction loads in a cross-section of the structural element can be resolved
into a resultant force and a resultant couple. For equilibrium, the moment created by external
forces (and external moments) must be balanced by the couple induced by the internal loads. The
resultant internal couple is called the bending moment while the resultant internal force is called
the shear force (if it is transverse to the plane of element) or the normal force (if it is along the
plane of the element). In the Euler–Bernoulli theory of slender beams, a major assumption is that
'plane sections remain plane'. In other words, any deformation due to shear across the section is
not accounted for (no shear deformation). Also, this linear distribution is only applicable if the
maximum stress is less than the yield stress of the material. At yield, the maximum stress
experienced in the section (at the furthest points from the neutral axis of the beam) is defined as
the flexural strength.

This is the Euler-Bernoulli equation for beam bending.

Simple beam bending is often analysed with the Euler-Bernoulli beam equation. The conditions
for using simple bending theory are:

1. The beam is subject to pure bending. This means that the shear force is zero, and that no
torsional or axial loads are present.
2. The material is isotropic and homogeneous.
3. The material obeys Hooke's law (it is linearly elastic and will not deform plastically).
4. The beam is initially straight with a cross section that is constant throughout the beam
length.
5. The beam has an axis of symmetry in the plane of bending.
6. The proportions of the beam are such that it would fail by bending rather than by crushing,
wrinkling or sideways buckling.
7. Cross-sections of the beam remain plane during bending.

Compressive and tensile forces develop in the direction of the beam axis under bending
loads. These forces induce stresses on the beam. The maximum compressive stress is found at
the uppermost edge of the beam while the maximum tensile stress is located at the lower edge of
the beam. Since the stresses between these two opposing maximum vary linearly, there therefore
exists a point on the linear path between them where there is no bending stress. The locus of
these points is the neutral axis. Because of this area with no stress and the adjacent areas with
low stress, using uniform cross section beams in bending is not a particularly efficient means of
supporting a load as it does not use the full capacity of the beam until it is on the brink of
collapse. Wide-flange beams (I-beams) and truss girders effectively address this inefficiency as
they minimize the amount of material in this under-stressed region. The classic formula for
determining the bending stress in a beam under simple bending is;

Where;

 is the bending stress


 M - the moment about the neutral axis
 y - the perpendicular distance to the neutral axis
 Ix - the second moment of area about the neutral axis x.

In seesaw’s point of view, the torsion might occurs when external forces is exert on seat of
seesaw and. As for the pin and rivet, they’re twice as important .The related theory, a shear
stress, , is defined as the component of stress co-planar with a material cross section. Shear
stress arises from the force vector component parallel to the cross section. Normal stress, on the
other hand, arises from the force vector component perpendicular to the material cross section on
which it acts. Maximum Shear Stress theory said that the most common type of yielding of a
ductile material is caused by slipping, which occurs along the contact planes of randomly
ordered crystals that make up the material.

These are related axial forces exerted on a two-force member caused normal stresses in
that member. Transverse forces exerted on a member cause shearing stresses. This might sound
kind of abstract, but the normal or shear stresses that are observed within a member, regardless
of application of axial or transverse loading, depend on the plane of examination. Imagine that
for a given member, different planes can be sliced through it. This concept is of significant value
and should be taken into consideration. For example, going down to the microstructure of metals,
individual grains will be aligned at different angles, and the angles of the grain boundaries will
be different, resulting in different combinations of normal and shear stress.

For example, visualize a member under axial loading, and the plane of interest is
cut perpendicular to the forces through the member. This would mean that there is no shear
stress, only normal stress to the plane. But if a plane is cut at an angle, then there will be a
combination of normal and shear stresses for the plane of consideration. Consider the following
table:

Consider a two-force member which is subjected to axial forces P and P'. A plane is cut
through the member forming an angle θ with the normal plane. A free-body diagram of the
portion of the member located to the left of the plane is constructed. The distributed forces acting
on the cut surface are equivalent to the force P. The force P can then be resolved into
component F and V, where F is the normal force that represents the normal stress multiplied by
the area of the cut section and V is the tangential force that represents the shear stress multiplied
by the area of the cut section. The formula to calculate average shear stress is force per unit area;

Where;
 = the shear stress;
 = the force applied;
 = the cross-sectional area of material with area parallel to the applied force vector.
2.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

We were given task to observed, identify and evaluate any equipment available in the
playground. The task was given to test our skills and knowledge learned in the class of
Mechanics of Material and applied it in the real world. We must see it in the perspective of an
Engineer specialize in mechanics of material such as the material of the equipment, the
dimension and the structure. We also must calculate the internal forces such as internal torque,
moment and normal forces. Then we must compare and discuss our finding with the values with
the failure strength of the material use using textbook. Lastly, we must compile all our
observation, calculation and evaluation into a report.

3.0 OBJECTIVE

First and foremost, the objective of this assignment is to help students relate the
fundamental principles learned in class with real life occurrences. With this we were able to use
the basic concept and fundamental principle in solid mechanics. Next, this assignment is part of
training for the students to do analysis and apply theories to real life problem and situations. The
ability to analyse the state of stress and strain in elastic mechanical members under various
loading condition were tested during this assignment. Lastly, to develop student’s ability to
evaluate real life engineering structures. Student ability to evaluate solid mechanics elements
involved in mechanical designs of mechanical engineering structures.
4.0 ANALYSIS AND RESULTS
Material used:

Mild steel circular hollow section Density, ρ = 7.85 Mg/m³


Outer diameter, D = 11.43 cm Modulus of elasticity, E = 200GPa
Thickness, t = 0.03cm Modulus of rigidity, G =75GPa
Inner diameter, D = 11.4 cm

Mild steel circular hollow section. (structural A-36).


The steel was covered with post caps from the same material.

Outer diameter, D = 11.43 cm


Thickness, t = 0.03cm
Inner diameter, D = 11.4 cm
Spring used:
Thickness One coil, d = 13.4 mm
Outside diameter. D = 111mm
D = OD – d
= 111 – 13.4
= 97.6 mm
Number of coils, n = 8.5 – 2
= 6.5

Assumptions:

1. There is no shear strain occur in seesaw


2. No torsion occur in seesaw. Therefore, there is no angle twist.
3. Spring does not effect the calculation since, we assume that the spring just act as
supporter.
4. Length longitudinal axis remain unchanged.
5. In plane distortion of section is negligible
6. Material behaves in a linear elastic manner so that Hooke’s Law applies.
5.0 DISCUSSION

Based on our calculation, we do not follow the Principle of Moment since we did not try
calculate various type of case to follow the principle. The principle states that the
moment from anticlockwise is same as moment from clockwise. From calculation, we
could find force and moment value for both side. Where FA=882.9N , MA= 1324.35N.m
and FB=735.75N, MB=1103.63N.m.

For information, we did not calculate the force for both spring since the spring act as
supporter and we can neglect the spring. The seesaw used the concept of fulcrum since
fulcrum is the main system that helps the seesaw to move up and down when there is
force from leg was applied to make it move.

From calculation also, we found the elastic deformation produced. Where δ =1.717 x
𝑃𝐿
10¯⁵ . By using δ = 𝐴𝐸 . Finally, after finding all the moment value in seesaw, we manage
to draw shear moment bending diagram.
6.0 CONCLUSION:

Based on this experiment that we had conduct,we can conclude that we had met the criteria
needed to complete this mini project assignment on time as it should.It had been said before the
variety size and shape of the see-saw had been created by an engineers have the same
fundamental principles mechanics of material but every each of them have a different
mechanism which will leads to the quality and efficiency of the see-saw.Alternatively,our main
purposes in this project which to analyse the fundamental principles of mechanic of material that
we have learned in class with real life occurances,to created a new experience in analysing the
ideal structure of playground appliance we choose,to understand the minimalist product created
by an engineers,thus relate it with the fundamental of mechanic of materials and to induce strong
teamwork environment in each member of our group had perfectly met the criteria above.As the
conclusion,we can deduct from above that to make a simple instrument or appliance in a real
life,we need to take note all the measurement and fundamental involved in order to make it
works very well.There is always a reason of why people invent something to make our life
easier.Therefore,as an aspiring engineer to-be,we should always learn to make something new
and thus make the life of people become worth as it should be.

7.0 REFFERENCES

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7tX37j-iHU
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pBjgaDymD4
3. http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/about-this-show/physics-of-
seesaws/
4. http://www.passmyexams.co.uk/GCSE/physics/turning-effect-forces.html
5. http://www.discoveryexpresskids.com/blog/archives/02-2014
6. https://www.buildeazy.com/seesaw-sliding-1.php
7. http://www.steelexpress.co.uk/structuralsteel/CHS.html
8. http://www.ussignsandsafety.com/collections/sign-brackets
9. MECHANIC OF MATERIALS, 8th Edition, Hibbeler,

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