CHARACTERISTICS OF FORCE

• Point of Application
• Magnitude
• Line of Action
• Direction • Sense of force

Same line of action but different sense

Principle of Transmissibility
• States that the conditions of equilibrium or motion of a rigid body will remain unchanged if a
force F acting at a given point of the rigid body is replaced by a force F’ of the same magnitude
and same direction, but acting at a different point, provided that the two forces have the same
line of action. i.e action of a force may be transmitted along its line of action
• The two forces F and F’ have the same effect on the rigid body and are said to be equivalent .
EQUILIBRIUM OF A PARTICLE
When the resultant of all the forces acting on a particle is zero, the particle is in equilibrium.

necessary and sufficient conditions for the equilibrium of a

particle are

 particle will remain at rest (if originally at rest)

Or
 particle will move with constant speed in a straight line (if originally in motion).
EXTERNAL FORCES:
The external forces represent the action of other bodies on the rigid body under consideration. They
are entirely responsible for the external behaviour of the rigid body. They will either cause it to move
or ensure that it remains at rest.
INTERNAL FORCES:
The internal forces are the forces which hold together the particles forming the rigid body. If the rigid
body is structurally composed of several parts, the forces holding the component parts together are
also defined as internal force.
EXTERNAL FORCES
INTERNAL FORCES
Varignon’s Theorem states that the moment of a force about any point is equal to the
algebraic sum of the moments of its components about that point