ME 221 Statics

Fall 2003

Mr. Hinds
3523 EB
hinds@msu.edu
 Administrative Details
• Syllabus will be posted on the web
– www.angel.msu.edu (Angel)
• Lecture attendance
– Web will be used for announcements but not all important
announcements given in class may be posted on the web

– Bring books to class for example problems

• Sample problems will be an integral part of lecture
• Lecture behavior
– Class size requires professional conduct

ME221 Lecture 1 2
 Administrative Details cont.
• Exams
– Dates set and given on syllabus
• first test date set for 100% refund drop date
– Format
• closed book, closed notes, calculator
– Excused absences: See syllabus
– Philosophy
• Most problems like HW; some problems
conceptually same as HW but somewhat different

ME221 Lecture 1 3
 Administrative Details cont.
• Homework & quizzes
– solutions will be posted
– all or partial problems will be graded
– lecture quizzes used as “scrimmages”
• quizzes in the last 15-20 minutes of lecture
• similar to assigned homework
• generally announced - some unannounced

ME221 Lecture 1 4
 Administrative Details cont.
Questions??

ME221 Lecture 1 5
 ENGINEERING…
The Future and the
Challenges…..??

ME221 Lecture 1 6
 Problem Solving Strategy
1 - Modeling of physical problem (free body diagram)
2 - Expressing the governing physical laws in
mathematical form
3 - Solving the governing equations

4 - Interpretation of the results

ME221 Lecture 1 7
 Mechanics Reform
• Textbook offers a departure from past standards
– recognizes the power of computer software in solving
problems
• MathCAD, MatLab, Maple, Mathmatica, VB, etc.
• calculators may be effectively utilized as well

– before using the software, the problem must be

properly posed
• posing the problem will be emphasized in this class

ME221 Lecture 1 8
 Mechanics Reform cont.
• Software helps us with:
– trigonometry
– units conversion
– systems of equations
– iterative problems for design purposes

• Software does not help with:

– envisioning the forces
– applying the proper laws of physics

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 Mechanics
• Broadly defined as the study of bodies that
are acted upon by forces.
• Types of bodies
– particles (considered rigid bodies)
– rigid bodies - relative distance between any two
points remains constant throughout motion
– deformable bodies
– fluids

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 Mechanics Overview
Statics Rigid Static

Mech Matl Deformable Static

Dynamics Rigid Dynamic

Fluid Dyn Deformable Dynamic

ME221 Lecture 1 11
 And now ...

Statics
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Chapter 1: Measurement
•Newton’s Laws of Motion
•Space and Events
•Vectors and Scalars
•SI Units (Metric)
•U.S. Customary Units
•Unit Conversion
•Scientific Notation
•Significant Figures
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 Basics: Newton’s Laws
•Every body or particle continues in a state of rest or of
uniform motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled
to change that state by forces acting upon it.
(Law of Inertia)

•The change of motion of a body is proportional to the

net force imposed on the body and is in the direction of
the net force.
F=ma

•If one body exerts a force on a second body, then the

second body exerts a force on the first that is equal in
magnitude, opposite in direction, and collinear.
ME221 Lecture 1 14
•Law of Universal Gravitation:
Any two particles are attracted to each other with a
force whose magnitude is proportional to the
products of their gravitational masses and inversely
proportional to the square between them.

F=Gm1m2/r2

where G = 66.73 x 10-12 m3/kg-s2

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 Basics
• Space -- we need to know the position of particles

y mi

x
z

• Event -- position at a given time

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 Basics cont.
• Two broad quantities
– scalars have no direction associated with them
• e.g., temperature, mass, speed, angle
– vectors must have direction specified
• e.g., velocity, force, acceleration
• Mass -- a scalar that characterizes a body’s
resistance to motion
• Force -- (vector) the action of one body on
another through contact or acting at a distance

ME221 Lecture 1 17
International System of Units:The SI system
Length meters m

Time seconds s

Mass kilogram kg

Force Newton N 1 kg
m/s2

See table 1-1 for prefixes

Compound units
Remember: Speed = distance/time
so in SI units, speed is measured in m/s

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 U.S. Customary Units
Length foot ft

Time seconds s

Mass slug slug

Force pound lb slug ft/s2

*Remember: W= mg

where g = 32.17 ft/s2

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 Numerical Answers
• Significant figures
– Use 3 significant digits
– If first digit is 1, then use next 3

• Rounding off the last significant digit

– less than 5: all digits after it are dropped
– equal 5: then all digits after it are dropped
– greater than 5 or equal 5 followed by a nonzero digit:
round up

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 END OF BASICS

ME221 Lecture 1 21