ME 101: Engineering Mechanics

A. Narayana Reddy

Department of Mechanical Engineering,

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati,
Guwahati - 781039, India.

Vectors
Scalar
Scalars possess magnitude but not direction. Any scalar can be represented by
a single real number. Examples: mass, volume, energy, temperature.
Vector
Vectors possess magnitude and direction and also the addition follows
parallelogram law. Examples: force, velocity, acceleration.
Classification of vectors
Fixed vectors have well defined points of application that cannot be
changed without affecting an analysis.
Free vectors may be freely moved in space without changing their effect
on an analysis.
Sliding vectors may be applied anywhere along their line of action
without affecting an analysis.
Lecture 3

A Narayana Reddy

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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Algebra of vectors
Equality of vectors
The vectors are said to be equal if they have same magnitude and direction.
Negative vector
Negative vector of a given vector has the same magnitude and the opposite
direction.
Addition of vectors
Q

Law of cosines,
R2 = P2 +Q2 2PQ cos

P
A

R
R= P+Q

Parallelogram Law
Lecture 3

Triangle rule for vector addition

A Narayana Reddy

Law of sines,
sin
sin
sin
=
=
P
Q
R

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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Vector addition
The triangle rule should be applied repeatedly to
add three or more vectors.
Polygon rule is applied to three are more vectors.
Repeated application of triangle rule

Repeated application of the triangle rule is

equivalent to polygon rule.
Vector addition is associative,

Polygon rule

Scalar mutiplication

~ + ~S = (~P + Q)
~ + ~S = ~P + (Q
~ + ~S).
~P + Q
Mutiplication of vector with positive scalar alters
the magnitude.
Multiplication of vector with negative scalar
alters the magnitude and reverse the direction.

Concurrent forces

Lecture 3

A set of forces pass through the same point is

called concurrent forces.
A Narayana Reddy

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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Example 1
A barge is pulled by two tugboats. If the resultant
of the forces exerted by the tugboats is 5000 N
directed along the axis of the barge, determine
a) the tension in each of the ropes for = 45 ,
b) the value of for which the tension in rope 2 is
a minimum.
Solution:
Part - a: Using triangle rule and law of sines, we can write
T1
T2
5000 N
=
=

sin 45
sin 30
sin 105
T1 = 3660 N, T2 = 2590 N
Part - b: The minimum tension in rope 2 occurs when T1
and T2 are perpendicular.
T1 = (5000 N) sin 30 = 2500 N
T2 = (5000 N) cos 30 = 4330 N
= 90 30 = 60 .

Part - a

Part - b

Lecture 3

A Narayana Reddy

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

5/9

Rectangular components of vector

Fx = F cos x , Fy = F cos y , and Fz = F cos z .

~ = Fx~i + Fy~j + Fz ~k
F
= F(cos x~i + cos y~j + cos z ~k)
~
= F
~ is a unit vector.
~ = cos x~i + cos y~j + cos z ~k.

Lecture 3

A Narayana Reddy

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

6/9

Example of force components

B

80 m

40 m

30 m

The tension in the guy wire is 2500 N.

Determine:
a) components Fx , Fy , Fz of the force
acting on the bolt A,
b) the angles x , y , z defining the
direction of the force.

~ be the unit vector pointing from A to

Solution: Let
~
~ = AB = 0.424~i + 0.848~j + 0.31 ~k
B. Then vector
AB
~ = 40~i + 80~j + 30 ~k.
as the vector AB
~ = 2500
~ = 1060~i + 2120~j + 795 ~k
~ = F
Force, F

Lecture 3

cos x = 0.424, cos y = 0.848, cos z = 0.31.

x = 115.1 , y = 32.0 and z = 71.5
A Narayana Reddy

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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Example 3
Example - 3:
The two forces act on a bolt at A. Determine
their resultant.
Solution approaches:
1

Graphical solution by constructing parallelogram. The direction of

forces should be taken from the given data whereas length of arrow
should be proportional to magnitude.

Trigonometric solution can be obtained by triangle rule. The law of

cosines and law of sines should be applied to get magnitude and
direction, respectively.

First the given forces should be resolved into components along

coordinate axes. Later the corresponding components should be added to
get resultant force.
Lecture 3

A Narayana Reddy

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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Solution

i) Graphical slution:
R = 98 N
= 35 .
ii) Trigonometric solution:
Law of cosines: R2 = P2 + Q2 2PQ cos B = R = 97.73 N.
sin A
sin B
Q
Law of sines:
=
= sin A = (sin B) .
Q
R
R
A = 15.04 and = 20 + A = 35.04 .
iii) Solution using components:
~P = 40[cos(20)~i + sin(20)~j] = 37.58~i + 13.68~j.
~ = 60[cos(45)~i + sin(45)~j] = 42.43~i + 42.43~j.
Q
~ = R
~ = ~P + Q
~ = 80.01~i + 56.10~j.
R
R = 97.72 and = 35.03 .
Lecture 3

A Narayana Reddy

Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati

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