EGB 2042/ Ch 2 1

CHAPTER 2: FORCE VECTORS

Ainul Akmar bt. Mokhtar
Mechanical Engineering
July Semester 2004
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 2
CHAPTER 2: FORCE VECTOR
2.1 Scalars and Vectors
2.2 Vector Operations
2.3 Vector Addition of Forces
2.4 Addition of a System of Coplanar Forces
2.5 Cartesian Vectors
2.6 Addition and Subtraction of Cartesian Vectors
2.7 Position Vectors
2.8 Force Vector Directed Along a Line
2.9 Dot Product
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 3
Chapter Objectives
To show how to add forces and resolve them
into components using the parallelogram law.
To express force and position in Cartesian
vector form and explain how to determine the
vectors magnitude and direction.
To introduce the dot product in order to
determine the angle between two vectors or
the projection of one vector onto another.
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 4
2.4 Addition of a System of
Coplanar Forces
2 ways to obtain the resultant force of more than
2 forces:
Parallelogram law (discussed in Sec 2.3) tedious
Resolve each force into its rectangular components F
X
and
F
Y

For analytical work, we must establish a notation
to represent the directional sense of the
rectangular components
Scalar notation
Cartesian vector notation
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 5
2.4 Addition of a System of
Coplanar Forces (cont)
Scalar Notation
Magnitude and directional sense of the rectangular
components of a force can be expressed in terms of
algebraic scalars
To be used ONLY for computational purposes, not for
graphical representations

y
x
F
y

F
x

F
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 6
2.4 Addition of a System of
Coplanar Forces (cont)
Cartesian Vector Notation
Cartesian unit vectors
i designate the
directions of x axis
j designate the
directions of y axis
F
x
=F
x
i
F
y
= F
y
j

F

i
j
q
y
x
j i F
y x
F F + =
where F
x
=Fcosq F
y
=Fsin q
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 7
2.4 Addition of a System of
Coplanar Forces (cont)
Coplanar Force Resultants
Using Scalar Notation
(+) F
Rx
= F
1x
- F
2x
+ F
3x

(+ ) F
Ry
= F
1y
+ F
2y
- F
3y

Magnitude of F
R=


Direction angle, q =

In general,


2 2
Ry Rx
F F +
x
y
R
R
1
F
F
tan

F
Rx
= E F
x
F
Ry
= E F
y

F
2

F
1

F
3

y
x
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 8
2.4 Addition of a System of
Coplanar Forces (cont)



Coplanar Force Resultants
Using Cartesian Vector Notation
F
1
= F
1x
i + F
1y
j
F
2
= - F
2x
i + F
2y
j
F
3
= F
3x
i - F
3y
j

F
R
= F
1
+ F
2
+ F
3

= F
1x
i + F
1y
j - F
2x
i + F
2y
j + F
3x
i F
3y
j
`` = (F
1x
F
2x
+ F
3y
) i + (F
1y
+F
2x
- F
3y
) j
= (F
Rx
)i +(F
Ry
)j


2 2
Y X R
F F F + =
Rx
Ry
F
F
1
tan

= u
F
2

F
1

F
3

y
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 9
2.5 Cartesian Vectors
Used to solve 3D problems
Will present a general method to
represent a vector in Cartesian form
Right-handed Coordinate System

EGB 2042/ Ch 2 10
2.5 Cartesian Vectors (cont)
Rectangular Components of a Vector
A = A
x
+ A
y
+ A
z

Unit Vector
Magnitude of 1
Dimensionless


A = Au
A
Where A defines the magnitude of A
u
A
defines the direction and sense of A
Cartesian Unit Vectors
i designate the directions of x axis
j designate the directions of y axis
k designate the directions of z axis

A
A
u =
A
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 11
2.5 Cartesian Vectors (cont)
Cartesian Vector Representation
A = A
x
i + A
y
j+ A
z
k
Magnitude of a Cartesian Vector


Direction of a Cartesian Vector
A
A
x
= o cos
A
A
y
= | cos
A
A
z
= cos
2
z
2
y
2
x
A A A A + + =
cos
2
o + cos
2
| + cos
2
= 1
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 12
2.5 Cartesian Vectors (cont)
A
A
x
= o cos
A
A
y
= | cos
A
A
z
= cos
cos
2
o + cos
2
| + cos
2
= 1
EGB 2042/ Ch 2 13
2.5 Cartesian Vectors (cont)


A
A
u =
A
k j i
k j i
u
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A A A
z
y
x
z y x
+ + =
+ +
=
A
k j i u + | + o = cos cos cos
A
k A
z
+ + =
+ | + o = =
j i A
k j i u A
A
y x
A A
cos A cos A cos A A
A
A
u
A

1
Thus,
A = Au
a

EGB 2042/ Ch 2 14
2.6 Addition and Subtraction of
Cartesian Vectors
To find the resultant of a concurrent force system, express each
force as a Cartesian vector and add the i, j ,k components of all
the force system
F
R
= EF =EF
x
i + EF
y
j + EF
z
k
Let
A = A
x
+ A
y
+ A
z

B = B
x
+ B
y
+ B
z
Thus
R = A + B
= (A
x
+ B
x
)i + (A
y
+ B
y
)j + (A
z
+ B
z
)k

R = A - B
= (A
x
- B
x
)i + (A
y
- B
y
)j + (A
z
- B
z
)k