Principles of Statics

Statics is a branch of mechanics which studies the effects and

distribution of forces of rigid bodies which are and remain at rest. In this
area of mechanics, the body in which forces are acting is assumed to
be rigid. The deformation of non-rigid bodies is treated in Strength of
Materials.

Topics in Statics:

● Resultant of Force System

● Equilibrium of Force System
● Analysis of Trusses
● Cables
● Friction
● Centroids and Centers of Mass
● Moments of Inertia

Components of a Force
A force is a push or pull upon an object resulting from the
object's interaction with another object. Whenever there is
an interaction between two objects, there is a force upon each of the
objects. When the interaction ceases, the two objects no longer experience
the force. Forces only exist as a result of an interaction.

Force may also be defined as that which changes, or tends to change

the state of motion of a body. This definition applies to the external effect of
a force. The internal effect of a force is to produce stress and deformation in
the body on which the force acts.

The characteristics of a force are

1. its magnitude

2. the position of its line of axis

3. the direction in which the force acts along its line of action
Applied Force (Fapp) is a force that is applied to an object by a person or
another object. If a person is pushing a desk across the room, then there is
an applied force acting upon the object. The applied force is the force
exerted on the desk by the person.
Gravity Force also known as weight (F grav) the force with which
the earth, moon, or other massively large object attracts another object
towards itself. By definition, this is the weight of the object. All objects upon
earth experience a force of gravity that is directed "downward" towards the
center of the earth. The force of gravity on earth is always equal to the
weight of the object as found by the equation:
Fgrav = m * g
where g = 9.8 N/kg (on Earth)
and m = mass (in kg)

Normal Force (Fnorm) is the support force exerted upon an object that
is in contact with another stable object. For example, if a book is resting
upon a surface, then the surface is exerting an upward force upon the book
in order to support the weight of the book. On occasions, a normal force is
exerted horizontally between two objects that are in contact with each other.
For instance, if a person leans against a wall, the wall pushes horizontally on
the person.

Friction Force (Ffrict) is the force exerted by a surface as an object

moves across it or makes an effort to move across it. There are at least two
types of friction force - sliding and static friction. Though it is not always the
case, the friction force often opposes the motion of an object. For example,
if a book slides across the surface of a desk, then the desk exerts a friction
force in the opposite direction of its motion. Friction results from the two
surfaces being pressed together closely, causing intermolecular attractive
forces between molecules of different surfaces. As such, friction depends
upon the nature of the two surfaces and upon the degree to which they are
pressed together. The maximum amount of friction force that a surface can
exert upon an object can be calculated using the formula below:
Ffrict = µ • Fnorm
 Air Resistance Force (Fair) is a special type of frictional force that
acts upon objects as they travel through the air. The force of air resistance is
often observed to oppose the motion of an object. This force will frequently
be neglected due to its negligible magnitude (and due to the fact that it is
mathematically difficult to predict its value). It is most noticeable for objects
that travel at high speeds (e.g., a skydiver or a downhill skier) or for objects
with large surface areas.

Tension Force (Ftens) is the force that is transmitted through a string,

rope, cable or wire when it is pulled tight by forces acting from opposite
ends. The tension force is directed along the length of the wire and pulls
equally on the objects on the opposite ends of the wire.
Spring Force (Fspring) is the force exerted by a compressed or
stretched spring upon any object that is attached to it. An object that
compresses or stretches a spring is always acted upon by a force that
restores the object to its rest or equilibrium position. For most springs
(specifically, for those that are said to obey "Hooke's Law"), the magnitude
of the force is directly proportional to the amount of stretch or compression
of the spring.

Sliding versus Static Friction

As mentioned above, the friction force is the force exerted by a surface as an

object moves across it or makes an effort to move across it. Sliding
friction results when an object slides across a surface. Sliding friction forces
can be calculated from knowledge of the coefficient of friction and the
normal force exerted upon the object by the surface it is sliding across. The
formula is:
Ffrict-sliding = μfrict-sliding • Fnorm

The symbol μfrict-sliding represents the coefficient of sliding

friction between the two surfaces. The coefficient value is dependent
primarily upon the nature of the surfaces that are in contact with each other.
The values of μ provide a measure of the relative amount of adhesion or
attraction of the two surfaces for each other. The more that surface
molecules tend to adhere to each other, the greater the coefficient values
and the greater the friction force.
Friction forces can also exist when the two surfaces are not sliding
across each other. Such friction forces are referred to as static
friction. Static friction results when the surfaces of two objects are at rest
relative to one another and a force exists on one of the objects to set it into
motion relative to the other object.

The symbol μfrict-static represents the coefficient of static

friction between the two surfaces. Like the coefficient of sliding friction, this
coefficient is dependent upon the types of surfaces that are attempting to
move across each other. In general, values of static friction coefficients are
greater than the values of sliding friction coefficients for the same two
surfaces. Thus, it typically takes more force to budge an object into motion
than it does to maintain the motion once it has been started.

The Newton

Force is a quantity that is measured using the standard metric unit known as
the Newton. A Newton is abbreviated by an "N." To say "10.0 N" means
10.0 Newton of force. One Newton is the amount of force required to give a
1-kg mass an acceleration of 1 m/s/s. Thus, the following unit equivalency
can be stated:
1 Newton = 1 kg • m/s2

FORCE SYSTEMS

A Force System is any arrangement where two or more forces act on

a body or on a group of related bodies. When the lines of action of all the
forces in a force system line in one plane, they are referred to as being
coplanar, otherwise they are non-coplanar. The force systems are further
classified according to their lines of action. Forces whose lines of action pass
through a common point are called concurrent; those in which the lines of
action are parallel are called parallel force systems and those in which the
lines of action neither are parallel nor intersect in a common point are known
as non-concurrent force systems.

The effect of a system of forces on a body is usually expressed in

terms of a resultant. The value of this resultant determines the motion of
the body. If the resultant is zero, the body will be in equilibrium and will not
change its original state of motion. If the resultant of a force system is not
zero, the body will have varying state of motion.

Forces acting at some angle from the coordinate axes can be resolved
into mutually perpendicular forces called components. The component of a
force parallel to the x-axis is called the x-component, parallel to y-axis the
y-component, and so on.

Components of a Force in XY Plane

Given the slope of the line of action of the force as v/h

 RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCE SYSTEM
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.

The equation involving the resultant of force system are the following

1.
The x-component of the resultant is equal to the summation of forces
in the x-direction.

2.
The y-component of the resultant is equal to the summation of forces in the
y-direction.

3.
The z-component of the resultant is equal to the summation of forces in the
z-direction.

Note that according to the type of force system, one or two or

three of the equations above will be used in finding the resultant.

Resultant of Coplanar Concurrent Force System

The line of action of each forces in coplanar concurrent force system
are on the same plane. All of these forces meet at a common point, thus
concurrent. In x-y plane, the resultant can be found by the following
formulas:
1. Three ropes are tied to a small metal ring. At the end of each rope
three students are pulling, each trying to move the ring in their
direction. If we look down from above, the forces and directions they
are applying are shown in the figure. Find the net force on the ring due
to the three applied forces.

2. Find the resultant vector of vectors A and B shown.

3. Three vectors A, B, and C are shown in the figure below. Find one
vector (magnitude and direction) that will have the same effect as the
three vectors shownbelow.
4. P is directed at an angle α from x-axis and the 200 N force is acting at
a slope of 5 vertical to 12 horizontal.
a. Find P and α if the resultant is 500 N to the right along the x-axis.
b. Find P and α if the resultant is 500 N upward to the right with a slope
of 3 horizontal to 4 vertical.
c. Find P and α if the resultant is zero.

5. Forces F, P, and T are concurrent and acting in the direction as shown

in the figure.

a. Find the value of F and α if T = 450 N, P = 250 N, β = 30°, and the

resultant is 300 N acting up along the y-axis.

b. Find the value of F and α if T = 450 N, P = 250 N, β = 30° and the

resultant is zero.

c. Find the value of α and β if T = 450 N, P = 250 N, F = 350 N, and the

resultant is zero.