BES 104: ENGINEERING MECHANICS

ENGINEERING MECHANICS STUDY OUTLINE

TERMINOLOGIES:
1. MECHANICS – is a branch of physical science which deals with the effect &
distribution of forces on rigid bodies.
2. ENGINEERING MECHANICS – deals with the effects & distribution of forces on rigid
bodies.
3. STATICS – deals with the effect & distribution of forces on rigid bodies which remain
at rest.
4. DYNAMICS – deals with the effect & condition of forces which causes acceleration or
motion on rigid bodies.
5. RIGID BODIES – on certain amount of matter, the parts of which are fixed in a
position relative to each other.
6. FORCE – any action that changed the state of a body. Its characteristics are (a) it
has a magnitude, (b) it has a direction and (c) it has a part of application.
7. FORCE SYSTEM – any arrangement where two or more forces are acting on a body
or group of related bodies.
8. COPLANAR FORCES – forces that are lying on the same plane.
9. COLLINEAR FORCES – forces that are lying in the same line of action.
10. CONCURRENT FORCES – forces where lines of action are passing through one
common point.
11. NON – CONCURRENT FORCES – forces whose line of action are not parallel and
are not passing at a common point.
12. PARALLEL FORCES – forces whose line of action are parallel and not passing at a
common point.
13. ACTION FORCE – these are forces that are applied into a body.
14. REACTION FORCE – these are forces that are developed by free bodies upon
another bodies.
15. TENSION FORCE – forces that tend to move away from the body or elongate the
body.
16. COMPRESSION FORCE – forces that tend to move towards or shorten the body.
17. VECTOR QUANTITIES – force, displacement, velocity or impulse that possess
direction as well as magnitude.
18. VECTOR – it is represented by an arrow whose head represents direction and length
indicate magnitude.
19. SCALAR QUANTITIES – time/volume, mass or weight, energy, density, work that
possess only magnitude.
20. FREE VECTOR – it may move anywhere in space provided it to maintain the same
direction and magnitude of the original vector.
 21. THE RESULTANT SYSTEM OF VECTOR – least number of vector that will replace
the given system.
AXIOM OF MECHANICS
I. PARALLELOGRAM LAW – the resultant of two forces is the diagonal of the
parallelogram formed on the vector of those forces.
II. TRIANGULAR LAW – if two forces are represented by their free vectors placed tip to
tail, their resultant vector is the third side of the triangle, the direction of the resultant
being from the tail of the first vector to the tip of the last vector
III. EQUILIBRIUM LAW – two forces are in equilibrium only if they are equal in
magnitude, opposite in direction and collinear in action.
IV. SUPERPOSITION OR LAW OF TRANSMISSIBILITY – the action of a given system
of force on rigid bodies will no way be changed if we add to or subtract from them
another system of force in equilibrium.
V. ACTION & REACTION LAW – action and reaction forces are equal but opposite
directed.
VI. SINE AND COSINE LAW – the magnitude of the resultant force can be determined
using the laws of cosines, and its direction is determined from the law of sines. The
magnitudes of two force components are determined from the laws of sines.
RESULTANT OF FORCE SYSTEMS
RESULTANT – resultant of a force system is a force or a couple that will have the same
effect to the body, both in translation and rotation, if all the forces are removed and replaced
by the resultant.
I. FORCE & COMPONENTS

Sample Problems:
1. A 200lb force is directed up to the left of an angle 30o with
the x- axis. Determine the components of the given x & y.

2. Determine the components of a 300N force acting down

to the right at a slope of 2 is to 3.
3. If ꝋ = 60o & F = 450N, determine the
magnitude of the resultant force its direction
measured counterclockwise from the positive
x – axis.
4. If the magnitude of the resultant force is to be
500 N, directed along the positive y axis,
determine the magnitude of force F and its
direction ꝋ.

5. Determine the magnitude of the resultant force FR = F1 + F2 and its direction,

measured counterclockwise from the positive x
axis.