Engineering Mechanics-I (statics)

CHAPTER ONE
VECTORS and SCALARS
1.1 Introduction
Mechanics is a physical science which deals with the state of rest or motion of bodies under the
action of forces. Thus it can be inferred that Mechanics is a physical science which deals with the
external effects of force on bodies. Mechanics is the foundation of most engineering sciences and is
an indispensable prerequisite to their study.
It is divided into three parts: mechanics of rigid bodies, mechanics of deformable bodies, and
mechanics of fluids.
Mechanics of rigid bodies is divided into two parts: Statics and Dynamics.
Statics: deals with the equilibrium of rigid bodies at rest under the action of forces.
Dynamics: deals with the motion of rigid bodies caused by unbalanced force acting on them.
Dynamics is further subdivided into two parts:
 Kinematics: dealing with geometry of motion of bodies without reference to the
forces causing the motion, and
 Kinetics: deals with motion of bodies in relation to the forces causing the motion.
Basic Concepts:
The concepts and definitions of Space, Time, Mass, Force, and Rigid body are basic to the study
of mechanics.
Space: - The geometric region occupied by bodies whose positions are described by linear and
angular measurements relative to a coordinate system. For three-dimensional problems,
three independent coordinates x, y and z are needed. For two-dimensional problems,
only two coordinates are required.
Time: - The measure of the succession of events and is a basic quantity in dynamics. Time is not
directly involved in the analysis of statics problems.
Mass: - A measure of the inertia of a body, which is its resistance to a change of velocity. Mass
can also thought of as the quantity of matter in a body.
Force: - The action of one body on another. A force tends to move a body in the direction of its
action. The action of a force is characterized by its magnitude, by the direction of its
action, and by its point of application. Thus force is a vector quantity.

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Particle: - A body of negligible dimensions. A particle is a body whose dimensions are considered
to be near zero. We may treat a body as a particle when its dimensions are irrelevant to
the description of its position or the action of forces applied to it.
Rigid body: - A body is considered rigid when the change in distance between any two of its
points is negligible. A rigid body can be 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 load.
In this course, the bodies are assumed to be rigid such that whatever load applied, they don‟t
deform or change shape. But translation or rotation may exist. The loads are assumed to cause only
external movement, not internal. In reality, the bodies may deform. But the changes in shapes are
assumed to be minimal and insignificant to affect the condition of equilibrium (stability) or motion
of the structure under load.
When we deal Statics/Mechanics of rigid bodies under equilibrium condition, we can represent the
body or system under a load by a particle or centerline. Thus, the general response in terms of other
load of the bodies can be spotted easily.
Fundamental Principles
The three laws of Newton are of importance while studying mechanics:
First Law: A particle remains at rest or continues to move in a straight line with uniform velocity
if there is no unbalanced force on it.
Second Law: The acceleration of a particle is proportional to the resultant force acting on it and is
in the direction of this force.
F  ma
Third Law: The forces of action and reaction between interacting bodies are equal in magnitude,
opposite in direction, and collinear.
The first and third laws have of great importance for Statics whereas the second one is basic for
dynamics of Mechanics.
Another important law for mechanics is the Law of gravitation by Newton, as it usual to compute
the weight of bodies. Accordingly:
m1  m2
F G Thus the weight of a mass „m‟ w  m  g
r2

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1.2 SCALARS AND VECTORS

1.2.1 Definition and properties
After generally understanding quantities as Fundamental or Derived, we shall also treat them as
either Scalars or Vectors.
Scalar quantities: - are physical quantities that can be completely described (measured) by their
magnitude alone. These quantities do not need a direction to point out their application (Just a
value to quantify their measurability). They only need the magnitude and the unit of measurement
to fully describe them.
E.g. Time[s], Mass [Kg], Area [m2], Volume [m3], Density [Kg/m3], Distance [m], etc.
Vector quantities: - Like Scalar quantities, Vector quantities need a magnitude. But in addition,
they have a direction, and sometimes point of application for their complete description. Vectors
are represented by short arrows on top of the letters designating them.
E.g. Force [N, Kg.m/s2], Velocity [m/s], Acceleration [m/s2], Momentum [N.s, kg.m/s], etc.
1.2.2 Types of Vectors
Generally vectors fall into the following three basic classifications:
Free Vectors: are vectors whose action in space is not confined or associated with a unique line in
space; hence they are „free‟ in space.
E.g. Displacement, Velocity, Acceleration, Couples, etc.

Sliding Vectors: has a unique line of action in space but not a unique point of applicatation.
E.g. when an external force acts on a rigid body, the force can be applied at any point
along its line of action without changing its effect on a body as a whole.

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NB: From the above we can see that a force can be applied anywhere along its line of action on a
rigid body without altering its external effect on the body. This principle is known as
Principle of Transmissibility.
Fixed Vectors: are vectors for which a unique and well-defined point of application is specified to
have the same external effect.
E.g. Force acting on non-rigid (deformable) bodies.

1.2.3 Representation of Vectors

A) Graphical representation
Graphically, a vector is represented by a directed line segment headed by an arrow. The length of
the line segment is equal to the magnitude of the vector to some predetermined scale and the arrow
indicates the direction of the vector.
Head
Tail  Length of the line equals to some scale, the magnitude of the vector
and the arrow indicates the direction of the vector.
NB: The direction of the vector may be measured by an angle θ from some known reference
direction.
B) Algebraic (arithmetic) representation
Algebraically a vector is represented by the components of the vector along the three dimensions.

v 
r  x
V   vy 
v 
 z

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v 
r r r r  x r r r
Expression by unit vectors i  j  k  1 V   v y   vx i  v y j  vz k
v 
 z

vx  v  cos  x

v y  v  cos  y

vz  v  cos  z

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Properties of vectors
Equality of vectors: Two free vectors are said to be equal if and only if they have the same
magnitude and direction.

The Negative of a vector: is a vector which has equal magnitude to a given vector but opposite in
direction.

Null vector: is a vector of zero magnitude. A null vector has an arbitrary direction.
Unit vector: is any vector whose magnitude is unity.
A unit vector along the direction of a certain vector, say vector A (denoted by U A) can then be
found by dividing vector A by its magnitude.
Orientation of Vectors
Generally, any two or more vectors can be aligned in different manner. But they may be:
* Collinear-Having the same line of action.
* Coplanar- Lying in the same plane.
* Concurrent- Passing through a common point.

1.3 Operations with Vectors

Scalar quantities are operated in the same way as numbers are operated. But vectors are not and
have the following rules:

1.3.1 Vector Addition or Composition of Vectors

Composition of vectors is the process of adding two or more vectors to get a single vector, a
Resultant, which has the same external effect as the combined effect of individual vectors on the
rigid body they act.
There are different techniques of adding vectors

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A) Graphical Method
I. The parallelogram law
The law states, “if A and B are two free vectors drawn on scale, the resultant (the equivalent
vector) of the vectors can be found by drawing a parallelogram having sides of these vectors, and
the resultant will be the diagonal starting from the tails of both vectors and ending at the heads of
both vectors.”

Once the parallelogram is drawn to scale, the magnitude of the resultant can be found by measuring
the diagonal and converting it to magnitude by the appropriate scale. The direction of the resultant
with respect to one of the vectors can be found by measuring the angle the diagonal makes with
that vector.
Note: As we can see in the above figure.
r r r r r
A  B  R  B  A  Vector Addition is commutative
The other diagonal of the parallelogram gives the difference of the vectors, and depending from
r r r r
which vertex it starts, it represents either A  B or B  A

Since the two diagonal vectors in the above figure are not equal, of course one is the negative
r r r r
vector of the other, vector subtraction is not commutative. i.e. A  B  B  A
NB. Vector subtraction is addition of the negative of one vector to the other.

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II. The Triangle rule

The Triangle rule is a corollary to the parallelogram axiom and it is fit to be applied to more than
two vectors at once. It states “If the two vectors, which are drawn on scale, are placed tip (head) to
tail, their resultant will be the third side of the triangle which has tail at the tail of the first vector
and head at the head of the last.”

Thus the Triangle rule can be extended to more than two vectors as, “If a system of vectors are
joined head to tail, their resultant will be the vector that completes the polygon so formed, and it
starts from the tail of the first vector and ends at the head of the last vector.”

NB. From the Triangle rule it can easily be seen that if a system of vectors when joined head to tail
form a closed polygon, their resultant will be a null vector.
III. Analytic method.
The analytic methods are the direct applications of the above postulates and theorems in which the
resultant is found mathematically instead of measuring it from the drawings as in the graphical
method.
A. Trigonometric rules:
The resultant of two vectors can be found analytically from the parallelogram rule by applying the
cosine and the sine rules.
Consider the following parallelogram. And let θ be the angle between the two vectors

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Consider triangle ABC

From cosine law,
r 2 r 2 r 2 r r
 R  A  B  2 A B cos 
r r 2 r 2 r r
 R  A  B  2 A B cos 

This is the magnitude of the resultant of the two vectors

Similarly, the inclination, β, of the resultant vector from A can be found by using sine law
r
 B 
sin  sin 
r  r    sin sin  * r  Which is the angle the resultant makes with vector A.
1

B R  R 
 
Decomposition of vectors:
Decomposition is the process of getting the components of a given vector along some other
different axis. Practically decomposition is the reverse of composition.
Consider the following vector A, and let our aim be to find the components of the vector along the
n and t axes.

From sine law then,

r r r r
An A r r sin  At A r r sin 
  An  A and   At  A
sin  sin  sin  sin  sin  sin 
The above are general expressions to get the components of a vector along any axis. In most cases
though, components are sought along perpendicular axes, i.e.   180       90

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B. Component method of vector addition

This is the most efficient method of vector addition, especially when the number of vectors to be
added is large. In this method first the components of each vector along a convenient axis will be
calculated. The sum of the components of each vector along each axis will be equal to the
components of their resultant along the respective axes. Once the components of the resultant are
found, the resultant can be found by parallelogram rule as discussed above.
1.4 Vector Multiplication: Dot and Cross products
1.4.1 Multiplication of vectors by scalars
Let n be a non-zero scalar and A be a vector, then multiplying A by n gives as a vector whose
magnitude is nA and whose direction is in the direction of A if n is positive or is in opposite
direction to A if n is negative.
Multiplication of vectors by scalars obeys the following rules:
i. Scalars are distributive over vectors.
r r r r
n( A  B)  nA  nB
ii. Vectors are distributive over scalars.
r r r
 n  m  A  nA  mA
iii. Multiplication of vectors by scalars is associative.
r r r
 nm A  n(mA)  m(nA)
1.4.2 Multiplication of vector by a vector
In mechanics there are a few physical quantities that can be represented by a product of vectors.
Eg. Work, Moment, etc
There are two types of products of vector multiplication
1.4.2.1 Dot Product: Scalar Product
The scalar product of two vectors A and B which are θ degrees inclined from each other denoted by
r r r r
A  B (A dot B) will result in a scalar of magnitude A B cos 
r r r r
A  B  A B cos
If the two vectors are represented analytically as
r r r r r r r r
A  ax i  a y j  az k and B  bx i  by j  bz k
A  B  axbx  ayby  azb z

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1.4.2.2 Cross Product: Vector Product

r r
The vector product of two vectors A and B that are θ degrees apart denoted by A  B (A cross B) is
r r
a vector of magnitude A B sin  and direction perpendicular to the plane formed by the vectors

A and B. The sense of the resulting vector can be determined by the right-hand rule.
r r r r
A  B  A B sin  perpendicular to the plane formed by A and B

If the two vectors are represented analytically as,

r r r r r r r r
A  ax i  a y j  az k and B  bx i  by j  bz k
r r
Then the cross product A  B will be the determinant of the three by three matrix as,
i j k
ax ay az
bx by bz
r r r r r
A  B   a y bz  az by  i   az bx  axbz  j   axby  a y bx  k

r r r r
NB. Vector product is not commutative; in fact, A  B   B  A

Moment of a Vector
The moment of a vector V about any point O is given by:

Where: is a position vector from point O to any point on the line of action of the vector.

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Example 1.1
r r r
Determine the angle made by the vector V  10i  24 j with the positive x-axis. Write the unit
r
vector n in the direction of V
r r
Ans x  112.6o , n  0.385i  0.923 j
r
Solution: - to determine the angle made by the vector V , we have to use

Opposite 24
tan  x    2.4
Hypotenuse 10
 x  tan 1 (2.4)  112.6o
r
To write the unit vector n in the direction of V , first we need to determine the magnitude of vector
r
V
r
V  V  Vx 2  Vy 2  (10)2  242  26
r r r
V 10i  24 j r r
then unit vector n    0.385i  0.923 j
V 26
Example 1.2.
For the vectors V1 and V2 shown in the figure,
a) Determine the magnitude V of their vector sum V= V1 + V2
b) Determine the angle  x which V makes with the positive x-axis
c) Write V as a vector in terms of the unit vectors i and j and then write a unit vector n along
r
the vector sum V
d) Determine the vector difference D = V2 – V1

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Solution: - (a) we construct to scale the parallelogram shown in Fig. for adding V1 and V2. Using
the law of cosines, we have

3
  tan 1    37o
  4
  60  97o
o

V 2  182  142  2(18)(14) cos 97

V  24.11 units

b) Using the law of sines for the right triangle, we have

sin 97 o sin 

24.11 14
14
sin   sin 97 o
24.11
  sin  0.5763    35.19o
1

 x      35.19o  37o
 x  72.19o
r
c) By using V and  x , we can write the vector V as
r r r
V  V  i cos  x  j sin  x 
r r r r
=24.11  i cos 72.19o  j sin 72.19o   7.37i  22.95 j
r r r
V 7.37i  22.95 j r r
Then unit vector n    0.305i  0.952 j
V 24.11
d) The vector difference D is
r r r r r
D  V1  V2  18(i cos 37o  j sin 37o )  14(i cos 60o  j sin 60o )
r r
=(18cos 37o  14cos 60o )i  (18sin 37o  14sin 60o ) j
r r
=21.38i  1.292 j units

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Exercise
r r
1.1. For the given vector V  8i  4 j  6k , calculate the angles made by V with the x-, y- and z-
r
axes. Write the unit vector n in the direction of V
1.2. Determine the magnitude of two vectors V1 and V2. And also determine the angle  which
the magnitude of the vectors makes with the positive x-axis by using parallelogram rule.

1.3. If the magnitude of the resultant vector is to be 9 kN directed along the positive x axis,
determine the magnitude of V1 and its angle 

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