School of Technology

Engineering Mechanics 1 (4ET003)

Lecture 1
1.1 Force
A force may be defined as the action of one body on another which tends to change
the shape or state of motion, or both, of the other body. Aside from a simple push or
pull which we can exert on a body with our hands, the force we are most familiar with
is gravitational force. The gravitational force or attraction exerted by the earth on a
body is the weight of the body. Other familiar forces are electrical or magnetic
attraction, wind forces on a surface, automobile tyre traction on the pavement and so
on.
Physical quantities such as length and temperature require a magnitude for their
complete description and are called scalar quantities. Forces require both magnitude
and direction and are called vector quantities. Vector quantities such as forces can be
represented graphically by arrows drawn to an appropriate scale. The length of the
arrow represents the magnitude and the direction in which the arrow points represents
the direction.
1.2 Moment of a Force
The tendency of force to produce rotation about an axis is called the moment of a
force about an axis. Consider a wrench that is applied to a nut on a bolt, to obtain the
maximum rotation or turning effect on the nut, we know from common experience
that the force should be applied perpendicular to the handle as far away from the axis
through the centre of the bolt as possible.
The moment of a force about an axis is defined as the product of the force and the
perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to that axis.
y

x
Line of action of F

d
B

Fig. 1
With forces in a plane the moment of a force about a point is understood to mean the
moment about an axis perpendicular to the plane at that point. We define the

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magnitude of the moment of a force in equation form with the aid of the above Fig 1.
The perpendicular distance from the line of action of F to point O is shown as BO be
equal to d. Therefore, the moment of the force F about O is equal to the product of F
and d. In equation form
MO = F d
The point O is the moment centre and the distance d is the arm of the force.
The two children sit on the teeter-totter shown in Fig 2, because they have different
masses, they must sit different distances from the centre of rotation, or face
catastrophic impact. In mathematical terms the moments on either side of the centre
must balance.

Fig. 2
Therefore:

Msmall=10 kg (9.81 N/kg) 2 m = 196 Nm

Mmedium= 20 kg (9.81 N/kg) 1 m = 196 Nm

1.3 Couple
We consider a special parallel-force system consisting of two parallel forces of equal
magnitude acting in opposite directions as shown in Fig. 3. Such a system is called a
couple. The plane in which the forces act is called the plane of the couple and the
perpendicular distance d, between the lines of action of the forces, is called the arm of
the couple.

X+d

d
X

Fig.3

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Example
Find the moment of the 100 N force at C about points A, B, C, and D for the rigid
body in the following Fig. 4.
100 N
2m

4m

2m

Fig. 4
Moment about A: The force tends to produce rotation about A in the
counterclockwise direction. By convention, the counterclockwise direction will be
positive. The moment about A is given by
MA = Fd1 = 100 6 = 600 Nm
Moment about B: The force tends to produce counterclockwise rotation about B;
thus the moment about B is
MB = Fd2 = 100 2 = 200 Nm
Moment about C: The moment of the force about C will be zero, since the force acts
directly through C and can have no moment about C.
MC = 0
Moment about D: The force tends to produce clockwise rotation about D; the
moment about D is given by
MD = Fd3 = -100 2 = -200 Nm
1.4 Resultant of Concurrent Forces in a Plane
A system of several forces is concurrent when all the forces acting on the body have
the same point of application or the line of action of the forces intersect at a common
point. It has been found by experiment that a concurrent force system can be replaced
by a single force or resultant. The resultant has the same physical effect as the force
system it replaces.
Parallelogram Method
The resultant of two concurrent forces can be obtained graphically by constructing a
parallelogram, as shown in Fig 5. The forces P and Q are drawn to scale. The forces
acting at O form two sides of the parallelogram. The diagonal that passes through O is
the resultant R. This is known as Parallelogram law.
P
R

Fig.5
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Triangular Method
The parallelogram construction shown in above Fig. 5 suggests that forces may also
be added by arranging vectors in a tip-to-tail fashion. The method consists of moving
either force parallel to itself until the tail coincides with the tip of the fixed force. The
closing side of the triangle forms the resultant with the tail of the resultant at the fixed
force and the tip of the resultant at the tip of the moved force.
1.5 Equilibrium
When the resultant of a force system acting on a body is zero, the body is in
equilibrium. If a body is in equilibrium, the body will either remain at rest, if
originally at rest, or in motion, if originally in motion.
There are two basic balances that must exist in any statics problems.
EQUILLIBRIUM OF FORCES
EQUILLIBRIUM OF MOMENTS

F 0
M 0

If the sum of the forces is not zero, then the system will undergo translation, and the
problem cannot be solved with statics methods.
If the sum of moments is not zero, then the system will undergo rotation, and the
problem cannot be solved with statics methods.
At least one of these two equations will appear in every statics problem.
1.6 Free-Body Diagram (FBD)
Statics involves the forces or interactions of bodies on each other. The bodies must be
separated from each other so that unknown forces may be determined. To this end, we
select and free a body from its surroundings. A diagram showing the forces acting on
the body is then drawn. Such a diagram is called a free-body diagram.
Up to this point we assumed very simple forces acting on very small particles.
In reality mechanical systems have many parts, and we draw an FBD for each part.
We should divide forces on free body diagrams into two categories,
Internal - these forces act only within a free body, and cancel out, unless we are
looking at a section of a free body.
External - these forces act on a free body, and they induce reaction forces. Examples
are gravity, and other free bodies.
Example:
A rubber cord that is originally 6.0m long is stretched as shown in Fig. 6. We can
model the elasticity of the cable as two springs to either side of the pulley. Find the
force F for the deformation shown.

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Fig 6
First select variables for the cable length, and find the deformed cable length
Next, find the tension in the cord as a result of the change in length.
Next, try a FBD of the pulley.
Tutorials
1. The two forces S and T act as shown in Fig. T1 at Point O, found out their
resultant.
S=400 N
30o

60

T=500 N

Fig.T1
The possible answer is
a) 900 N
b) 100 N

c) 640 N

d) 450 N

Answer is c.
2. The three couples shown in Fig. T2 are equivalent. Determine (a) the distance
d for the second couple, and (b) the force F for the third couple.
18kN

10kN
5m
4.5m

d
18kN

Fig. T2 10kN
The possible answer is
a) d = 6m, F = 19kN b) d = 7m, F = 18kN
d) d = 9m, F = 20kN

c) d = 8m, F = 17kN
Answer is d.

3. Four forces act on bolt A as shown in Fig. T3. Determine the resultant of the
forces on the bolt. Ans: Fx=199N, Fy=14N
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Fig. T3
4. Find the tension in cable A and B shown in Fig. T4 if the tension in cable C is
100 N. Ans: TA=71N, TB=71N.

Fig. T4
5. A automobile is pulled by two ropes as shown in Fig. T5. If the resultant of the
two forces must be 3000N, parallel to the forward roll of the car, find (a) the
tension in each of the ropes, knowing that a= 30, (b) the value of a such that
the tension in rope 2 is minimum.

Fig. T5
6. An F-117A stealth fighter is supposed to be flying N20E shown in Fig. T6,
but a strong wind from West to East is pushing it off course. If the plane is
pointed N20E, but is actually moving N23E, and its 97860 N engine is at
full thrust, what force is the wind exerting on the plane? Ans: Fw=5563 N

Fig. T6

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