ACAD WEEK 4: EQUILIBRUM OF FORCES

INTRODUCTION: a body acted upon by many forces is said to be in equilibrium it experiences

no movement, twisting or turning. A system is in equilibrium when all the forces are balanced.
This means,
• There is no resultant force
• There is no resultant torque
An object in equilibrium will therefore remain at rest, or at a constant velocity, and not rotate
The system is in an equilibrium state when applying the principle of moments.
TYPES OF EQUILIBRUM
There are two major types of equilibrium
1. Statistic equilibrium
2. Dynamic equilibrium
STATIC EQUILIBRIUM
A body is said to be in static equilibrium if all the forces that act upon it are balanced, and the
object is not moving. The forces are considered to be balanced if the rightward forces are
balanced by the leftward forces and the upward forces are balanced by the downward forces. This
however does not necessarily mean that all the forces are equal to each other, however, their
effects cancel out one another. Consider the two objects as shown in the diagram below.
50 N 50 N

30 N 30 N 75 N 75 N

50 N 50 N
Note that the two objects are at equilibrium because the forces that act upon them are balanced;
however, the individual forces are not equal to each other. The 50 N force is not equal to the
30 N force. If an object is at equilibrium, then the forces are balanced. Thus, the net force is zero
and the acceleration is 0 m/s2. Objects at equilibrium must have an acceleration of 0 m/s2. This
extends from Newton's first law of motion. But having an acceleration of 0 m/s2 does not mean
the object is at rest. An object at equilibrium is either at rest and staying at rest, or in motion and
continuing in motion with the same speed and direction. This too extends from Newton's first law
of motion
DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM
A body is said to be under dynamic equilibrium if it is under forces that makes it to be in constant
motion or velocity. A body can be in equilibrium and still be moving, because the amount of
force added in pushing the body forward equals the amount of forces added to counter the
additional forces. Consider a body in motion, and a force of 50N is added to push the body
forward, the velocity of the body increases. If a force of 50N is added to the front of the body, the
body comes back to its original velocity, hence being in dynamic equilibrium.
 CONDITIONS FOR EQUILIBRIUM
For a body to be under equilibrium, the following conditions must be met;
• The upward forces must be equal to the to the downward forces.
• The sum of the right hand forces must be equal to the sum of the left hand force.
• The sum of the clockwise moment must be equal to the sum of the anti-clockwise
moment.

MOMENT OF A FORCE
The moment of a force is the ability of the force to bring about a turning effect on the body. It is
a function of the force and its perpendicular distance. That is to say
𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕 = 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 × 𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒖𝒍𝒂𝒓 𝒅𝒊𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆. The turning effect of a force is always
around a point called pivot of fulcrum. A moment can either be clockwise or anti clockwise. It is
a clockwise moment if its rotation to the fulcrum follows a clockwise pattern and an anti-
clockwise moment if it follows an anti-clockwise pattern. This is shown as below.
F`1
X1

X4 X3
X2
F3
F4 F2

F1 , F3, and F2 are clockwise forces while F4 is an anti-clockwise force.

It follows therefore that the sum of the clockwise moment
𝐹1 × 𝑥1 + 𝐹2 × 𝑥2 + 𝐹3 × 𝑥3 = 𝐹1 𝑥1 + 𝐹2 𝑥2 + 𝐹3 𝑥3
Anti-clock wise moment
𝐹4 × 𝑥4 = 𝐹4 𝑥4 .
Following the last condition for equilibrium, 𝑭𝟏 𝒙𝟏 + 𝑭𝟐 𝒙𝟐 + 𝑭𝟑 𝒙𝟑 = 𝑭𝟒 𝒙𝟒
ASSIGNMENT
1. A uniform meter rule of mass 100g balances the 40cm mark when a mass of X is attached
at 10cm mark. What is the value of x.