Chapter 1 – GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Objectives:
At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:
1. define mechanics and statics.
2. state the three Newton’s laws of motion.
3. memorize the units used in statics.

1.a. Definition of Terms

Mechanics – the branch of the physical sciences concerned with the state or motion of bodies
that are subjected to the action of forces.
Statics – division of mechanics of rigid bodies that deals with bodies which are acted on by
balanced forces and hence are either at rest or move with a constant velocity.
Length – a quantity that is needed to locate the position of a point in space and thereby
describe the size of a physical system.
Time – it is an absolute quantity that measures the succession of events.
Mass – a property of matter by which the action of one body with that of another can be
compared. This property manifests itself as a gravitational attraction between two bodies
and provides a quantitative measure of the resistance of matter to a change in velocity.
Force – it is the action of one body upon another body. The interaction can occur by direct
contact or through a distance by which the bodies are physically separated like the
gravitational force.
Particle – a body that is thought of as a single point at which all its mass is concentrated.
Rigid body – a combination of a large number of particles in which all the particles remain at a
fixed distance from one another both before and after applying a load.
Concentrated force – represents the effect of a loading which is assumed to act at a point on
the body.

1.b. Newton’s Laws of Motion

First Law
A particle originally at rest, or moving in a straight line with constant velocity, will remain
in this state provided the particle is not subjected to an unbalanced force.

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.
If F is applied to a particle of mass m, this law may be expressed mathematically as F =
ma.

F1

F2

F3
v

Third Law
The mutual forces of action and reaction between two particles are equal, opposite, and
collinear.

1.c. Weight
W = mg
where: g is the acceleration due to gravity (equals 9.81 m/s2

at standard location)

1.d. Units used in Mechanics

Quantity SI U.S.
Mass Kilogram Slug
Length Meter Feet
Time Second Second
Force Newton (kg-m/s2

) Pound (slug-ft/s2

Chapter 2 – FORCE VECTORS

Objectives:
At the end of the chapter, the students should be able to:
1. differentiate a scalar from a vector quantity.
2. add two forces using the Parallelogram Law.
3. resolve a force into components.
4. find the rectangular components of a force.
5. write a force in Cartesian vector form.
6. apply the dot product to find the rectangular component of a force along any direction.
7. use rectangular components to add concurrent forces.
2.a. Scalar and Vector Quantities
Scalar – a quantity that possesses a magnitude only such as mass, volume, length, and time.
Vector – a quantity that has both magnitude and direction. Examples of vector quantities are
position, velocity,
acceleration, force and moment. It is represented by a bold letter, in print, or by a letter with an
arrow
over it such as
A
, if it is handwritten. Its magnitude is designated by an italicized letter or
A
.

2.b. Multiplication and Division of a Vector by a Scalar

If a vector is multiplied by a positive scalar, its magnitude is increased by that amount. When
multiplied
by a negative scalar it will also change the directional sense of the vector.

2.c. Force
A force represents the action of one body on another and is generally characterized by its point
of
application, its magnitude, and its direction.
2-d. Vector Addition. Finding a Resultant Force
Two vectors are added according to the parallelogram law. It states that “Two forces on a body
can be
replaced by a single force called the resultant by drawing the diagonal of the parallelogram with
sides
equivalent to the two forces.” The following procedure is to be followed in constructing the
parallelogram:
1. Join the tails of the two forces at a point, say O, so that it makes them concurrent.

2. From the head of B, draw a line parallel to A. Draw another line from the head of A that is
parallel to B.
These two lines intersect at point P to form the adjacent sides of a parallelogram.
3. The diagonal of this parallelogram from O to P forms R, which then represents the resultant
vector R = A +
B.

A
B
O

A
B
O

γ
R

A
B
O
A
2A
–A

5
The magnitude of the resultant R of two vectors is determined algebraically by applying the
cosine law for a
general triangle. Thus,

2 cos
2 2 R A B AB

The angles between the resultant R and vectors A and B can be determined by using the law of
sine for a general
triangle. The resultant R has to lie always in between the given forces A and B, hence, γ should
be chosen such
that 0 < γ < .
An equivalent statement of the parallelogram law is the triangle law. Vector B is added to vector
A by
connecting the head of A to the tail of B. The resultant R extends from the tail of A to the head
of B.
As a special case, if the two vectors A and B are collinear, i.e., both have the same line of
action, the
parallelogram law reduces to an algebraic or scalar addition R = A + B.

2.e. Vector Subtraction

The resultant of the difference between two vectors A and B of the same type may be
expressed as R' =
A – B = A + (–B), therefore, subtraction is defined as a special case of addition, so the rules of
vector addition
also apply to vector subtraction.