Eighth Edition

VECTOR MECHANICS FOR ENGINEERS:

1
CHAPTER

STATICS
Ferdinand P. Beer
E. Russell Johnston, Jr.

Lecture Notes:
J. Walt Oler
Texas Tech University

© 2007 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
By Ferdinand P. Beer & E. Russell Johnston Jr.
with notes by J. Walt Oler (Texas Tech University)

Fundamental Concepts
Fundamental Principles
Vectors
Systems of Units
Method of Problem Solution
Numerical Accuracy

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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Fundamental Concepts
• Space - associated with the notion of the position of a point P given in
terms of three coordinates measured from a reference point or origin.

• Time - definition of an event requires specification of the time and

position at which it occurred.

• Mass - used to characterize and compare bodies, e.g., response to

earth’s gravitational attraction and resistance to changes in translational
motion.

• Force - represents the action of one body on another. A force is

characterized by its point of application, magnitude, and direction, i.e.,
a force is a vector quantity.

In Newtonian Mechanics, space, time, and mass are absolute concepts,

independent of each other. Force, however, is not independent of the
other three. The force acting on a body is related to the mass of the body
and the variation of its velocity with time.
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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Systems of Units
• International System of Units (SI):
The basic units are length, time, and
mass which are arbitrarily defined as the
• Kinetic Units: length, time, mass, meter (m), second (s), and kilogram
and force. (kg). Force is the derived unit,
F = ma
• Three of the kinetic units, referred to  m
as basic units, may be defined ( )
1 N = 1 kg 1 2 
 s 
arbitrarily. The fourth unit, referred
to as a derived unit, must have a • U.S. Customary Units:
definition compatible with Newton’s The basic units are length, time, and
2nd Law, force which are arbitrarily defined as the
  foot (ft), second (s), and pound (lb).
F = ma Mass is the derived unit,
F
m=
a
1 lb
1slug =
1 ft s
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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Fundamental Principles
• Newton’s First Law: If the resultant force on a
particle is zero, the particle will remain at rest
or continue to move in a straight line.

• Newton’s Second Law: A particle will have

an acceleration proportional to a nonzero
resultant applied force.
• Parallelogram Law  
F = ma
• Newton’s Third Law: The forces of action and
reaction between two particles have the same
magnitude and line of action with opposite
sense.

• Newton’s Law of Gravitation: Two particles

are attracted with equal and opposite forces,
• Principle of Transmissibility F =G
Mm
W = mg , g =
GM
2
r R2
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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Vector vs scalar
• Vector: parameters possessing magnitude and direction
which add according to the parallelogram law. Examples:
displacements, velocities, accelerations.
• Scalar: parameters possessing magnitude but not
direction. Examples: mass, volume, temperature
• Vector classifications:
- Fixed or bound vectors have well defined points of
application that cannot be changed without affecting
an analysis.
- Free vectors may be freely moved in space without
changing their effect on an analysis.
- Sliding vectors may be applied anywhere along their
line of action without affecting an analysis.
• Equal vectors have the same magnitude and direction.
• Negative vector of a given vector has the same magnitude
and the opposite direction.
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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Addition of Vectors
• Trapezoid rule for vector addition

• Triangle rule for vector addition

• Law of cosines,
C
B R 2 = P 2 + Q 2 − 2 PQ cos B
  
C R = P+Q

• Law of sines,
sin A sin B sin C
= =
B Q R A

• Vector addition is commutative,

   
P+Q = Q+ P

• Vector subtraction

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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Addition of Vectors
• Addition of three or more vectors through
repeated application of the triangle rule

• The polygon rule for the addition of three or

more vectors.
• Vector addition is associative,
        
P + Q + S = (P + Q ) + S = P + (Q + S )

• Multiplication of a vector by a scalar

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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Vector Product of Two Vectors
• Concept of the moment of a force about a point is
more easily understood through applications of
the vector product or cross product.

• Vector product of two vectors P and Q is defined

as the vector V which satisfies the following
conditions:
1. Line of action of V is perpendicular to plane
containing P and Q.
2. Magnitude of V is V = PQ sin 
3. Direction of V is obtained from the right-hand
rule.

• Vector products:
- are not commutative, Q  P = −( P  Q )
- are distributive, P  (Q1 + Q2 ) = P  Q1 + P  Q2
- are not associative, ( P  Q )  S  P  (Q  S )
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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Method of Problem Solution
• Problem Statement: • Solution Check:
Includes given data, specification of - Test for errors in reasoning by
what is to be determined, and a figure verifying that the units of the
showing all quantities involved. computed results are correct,
- test for errors in computation by
• Free-Body Diagrams: substituting given data and computed
Create separate diagrams for each of results into previously unused
the bodies involved with a clear equations based on the six principles,
indication of all forces acting on - always apply experience and physical
each body. intuition to assess whether results seem
• Fundamental Principles: “reasonable”
The six fundamental principles are
applied to express the conditions of
rest or motion of each body. The
rules of algebra are applied to solve
the equations for the unknown
quantities.
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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Numerical Accuracy
• The accuracy of a solution depends on 1) accuracy of the given
data, and 2) accuracy of the computations performed. The solution
cannot be more accurate than the less accurate of these two.

• The use of hand calculators and computers generally makes the

accuracy of the computations much greater than the accuracy of the
data. Hence, the solution accuracy is usually limited by the data
accuracy.

• As a general rule for engineering problems, the data are seldom

known with an accuracy greater than 0.2%. Therefore, it is usually
appropriate to record parameters beginning with “1” with four digits
and with three digits in all other cases, i.e., 40.2 lb and 15.58 lb.

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Edition
Eighth
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics

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