Ch.

1Introduction

Lookingahead:

1.1EngineeringandStatics.
1.2ABriefHistoryofStatics. Pleasereadall
1.3FundamentalPrinciples. sections.
1.4Force. Wewillcover
1.31.6in
1.5UnitsandUnitConversions. detail.
1.6Newton'sLawofGravitation.
1.7Failure.
CopyrightTheMcGrawHillCompanies,Inc.Permissionrequiredforreproductionordisplay.
1.31.4FundamentalPrinciples&Force

Commonidealizationsinmechanics:

Particlehasmassbutasizethatcanbeneglected.

Rigidbodyacollectionofparticlessuchthatthedistance
betweenallparticlesremainsconstant.Arigidbodyisnot
deformable.

Concentratedforceaforcethatactsatapoint.
 Scalarsandvectors
Definitions:
A scalarisaquantitythatiscompletelycharacterizedbyasingle
number.Mass,volume,andlengthareexamplesofscalars.
A vector is a quantity that has both magnitude (or size) and
direction.*Velocity,force(e.g.,weight)andpositionareexamples
ofvectors.Vectorstransformaccordingtocertainlaws!

Commonnotationforvectorquantities: F , F, F , ....

by.
Wedenotethemagnitude(orsize)ofF F

*Fineprint:Therearesomeadditionalmathematicalrequirementsthatmustalsobesatisfied,butwe
willnotneedtoworryabouttheseinStatics.
 Newton'slawsofmotion
1stlaw:Aparticleremainsatrest,orcontinuestomoveina
straight line with uniform velocity, if there is no unbalanced
forceactingonit.

2nd law: The acceleration of a

particleisproportionaltotheresultant

force acting on the particle, and is in F ma
thedirectionofthisforce.

3rdlaw:Theforcesofactionandreactionbetweeninteracting
bodies are equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, and
collinear.
 Staticequilibrium

F ma
Static equilibrium of a particle is defined to be the
situation in which the acceleration of the particle is
zero:
a0
Hence,staticequilibriumrequiresthesumofallforces
appliedtoaparticletobezero:

F 0

we will usually write this as F 0
 Moreonzeroacceleration

r
Letbethevectorthatdescribes
thepositionofaparticle(calledthe
positionvector).
Thevelocityandaccelerationaredefinedas:

dr dv
v , a
dt dt

Ifthevelocityofaparticleiszero,orisconstant

(uniformmagnitudeanddirection),then a 0
andtheparticleisinstaticequilibrium.
1.5Units Wewillusethefollowingunitsystems:

Remark:therelationshipamongtheseunitsisgovernedby
F=ma.Byselecting3fundamentalunits,a4thderivedunitcan
beobtained.Thederivedunitsare:

U.S.Customary1slug F 1lb
system: a 1ft/s2
or....1lb = (1slug)(1ft/s2 )

metric(SI): 1newton ma (1kg)(1m/s2 )

Unitconversions
 Unitconversions...more
Ifp=expression,tochangetheunitsofp,multiplythe
r.h.s.byconversionfactors,eachofwhichisequaltothe
dimensionlessnumber1,untilthedesiredunitsareobtained.

Example1:Convertthespeedv=10m/stoU.S.
Customaryunits. dimensionless

1 ft 0.3048 m
Since 1 ft 0.3048 m 1
0.3048 m 1 ft

m m 1 ft
v 10 1 10 32.808 ft/s
s s 0.3048
m
1
 Prefixes
Usefultoreducenumberstomanageablesize,
especiallySIunits.
 Massversusweight

Remark: It is unfortunately customary for people (lay

peopleespecially)toreport weightin kilograms.When
reported in kilograms, the word "weight" technically
means mass. In Statics and throughout engineering,
numbersreportedinkilogramsarecalledmasses.
Example2:

(a)Convert175lb/ft3toSIunits.

(b)Convert6ft/htoSIunits.

(c)Convert1.13kNmtoU.S.Customaryunits.

A:
(a)27.5kN/m3
(b)0.508mm/s
(c)833ftlb
 1.6Newton'sLawofGravitation
Considertwoparticlesofmassm1andm2.Newtonstated:

m1m2
F G 2
r
F=forceofattractionbetweenthetwoparticles.
G=universalgravitationalconstant,experimentallyfound
tobe=66.74(1012)m3/(kgs2).
r=distancebetweenthecenterofgravityoftheparticles.

The above expression gives the magnitude (size) of the force of

gravitation ... the direction of the force is between the centers of
gravityofparticles1and2.
 Weight
Consideraparticlewithmassm1=m,andlettheearthsmassbe
denoted by m2 = mearth. Letting W = F where we call W the
weight,wecanwrite
W=mGmearth/r2...or....

W mgwhereg accelerationduetogravity Gmearth r 2 .

Remark:Wecommonlythinkofgasaconstant.However,inour
application of F=Gm1m2/r2, the earth is not a particle, it has
nonuniformdensity,andrdependsonposition.Further,theearth
spins.Nonetheless,commonlyacceptedvaluesforgare:

g=32.2ft/s2=386.4in/s2 gismostaccurate
=9.81m/s2 at 45latitude.
 Numericalcalculations
DimensionalHomogeneity:
In addition to being numerically correct, an equation must
also be dimensionally correct. Always include units in the
equationsyouwriteandthenumbersyoureport.

Accuracy:
Youcannotcreateaccuracywithyourcalculations.

e.g.,(12.34in.)(12.3lb)=151.782in.lb.

In lengthy calculations, retain one or two extra significant

digits.*Yourfinalresultsshouldbereportedwiththesame
accuracyasyourdata(inthiscase...152in.lb.)

*Occasionalexceptionstothiswhengreateraccuracyisneeded.
 Example3:
Two steel spheres with 100 mm diameter are placed
beside one another on the earths surface. Compute the
gravitational force W (weight) and the force of mutual
attractionFinnewtons.Thespecificweightofsteelis
=0.284lb/in3.

A:W=40.3N,F=1.13(107)N