The Laws of Sines and Cosines

The Law of Sines establishes a relationship between the angles and the side lengths of ΔABC:

a/sin(A) = b/sin(B) = c/sin(C).

The relationship explains the plural "s" in Law of Sines: there are 3 sines after all. Another important
relationship between the side lengths and the angles of a triangle is expressed by the Law of
Cosines.

c² = a² + b² - 2ab·cos(C)

Static Equilibrium

 Engineers need to design and build structures which don't fall over, slide, or
tilt. In other words, they need to make sure their buildings remain in static
equilibrium: no translation, no rotation.
 An object is in static equilibrium if and only if:
o The sum of the forces on it in each direction is zero.
o The sum of the torques on it in each direction is zero.
o Its linear momentum is zero (i.e. it's not moving).
 If the forces on an object do add up to zero in each direction, then one can
pick any axis around which to calculate the torques. It usually helps to pick an
axis which is exactly where one force is applied -- that will make the torque
due to that force zero.
 Margins of safety are Good.
Forces can be categorized as internal forces or external forces. There are many
sophisticated and worthy ways of explaining and distinguishing between internal and
external forces. Many of these ways are commonly discussed at great length in
physics textbooks. For our purposes, we will merely say that external forces include
applied forces, normal forces, tensional forces, friction forces, and air resistance
forces. For our purposes, internal forces include gravitational forces, magnetic forces,
electrical forces, and spring forces.

Internal Forces External Forces

Fgrav Fapp

Fspring Ffrict

Fair

Ftens

Fnorm

1. Definition of Gravity and Centroid

Centre of gravity is the point where the total weight of the body acts while
centroid is the geometric centre of the object. Centre of gravity or centre of
mass is the point where the whole mass of the body is concentrated. This is
where the gravitational force (weight) of the body acts for any orientation of
the body. Centroid is the centre of gravity for objects of uniform density.
2. Calculation of Gravity and Centroid

Calculating centre of gravity is not a simple procedure because the mass (and
weight) may not be uniformly distributed throughout the object. Centre of
gravity can be calculated from cg * W = S x dw where x is the distance from a
reference line, dw is an increment of weight, and W is the total weight of the
object. Centroid can be found with methods such as the plumb line method
discussed above.

Centre of Gravity vs. Centroid: Comparison Chart

Centre of Gravity Centroid
Centre of mass of a geometric object with Centre of mass of a geometric object of
any density uniform density

Point where weight of a body or system

Geometrical centre
may be considered to act

Denoted by g Denoted by c