BASIC MECHANICS

ME/ EL/ ES/ CE/ GM/ GE 167

UNIT 2
FORCES AND MOMENTS

COURSE INSTRUCTORS

A.A. AFARI
A. SULLAIMAN

Source: Engineering Mechanics; statics by R.C Hibbeler

 FORCES
 Quantities/dimensions are either scalar or vectors.
 All the basic quantities mentioned are scalars with the exception of Forces.
 As such, forces are essentially treated as vectors in Rigid Body Mechanics.
 The external effects of force(s) on a body/particle depend on:
 The magnitude of the force(s)
 The direction of the force(s)
 The line of action of the force(s)
 Two or more Forces acting on a body/particle (A System of forces) may be
collinear, parallel, coplanar or concurrent.
 Two Systems of forces are considered equivalent if they produce the same effect on a
rigid body.
 Note: No method exists for directly measuring a force. In mechanics, we use cause-and-effect relationship to
measure/determine force e.g. spring scale uses deflection of spring to measure weight (force) and beam
scale uses balancing of moment to measure weight (force).
 Types of Force System
A force system may be one-, two- (planar) or three-dimensional (spatial). A force system is said to be
 collinear if the forces have a common line of action.
 parallel if the lines of action of the forces are parallel.
 concurrent if the lines of action of the forces intersect at a common point
 Coplanar when all the forces lie in the same plane.
 Spatial when all the forces do not lie in the same plane.

F3 F2 F1 F2 F3 F4
F1

T4
Non-Concurrent
Concurrent Coplanar Force System Coplanar Force System T3
T1
F4 F
F2 T2
F1
F3
Concurrent Spatial Force System

Parallel spatial Force System F 2-3

Collinear Force System
 FORCES
Some Characteristics of Vectors
 Vectors may be Fixed or bound, Free or Sliding.
 Vectors are considered equal if they have the same magnitude and direction.
 Scalar multiplication of a vector changes only it’s magnitude, unless the scalar is –ve in
which case a change in direction is also produced.
 They obey the parallelogram law of addition:

Source: Engineering
Mechanics Statics – Pytel
and Kiusalaas
 Forces
 They obey the triangle law:

Source: Engineering Mechanics

Statics – Pytel and Kiusalaas

 They obey sine and cosine laws:

Source: Engineering
Mechanics Statics – Pytel and
Kiusalaas
 Forces
 Obey the polygon rule of addition.

Source: Engineering
Mechanics Statics –
Pytel and Kiusalaas

 Successive application of the parallelogram, triangle laws is possible.

 Vector addition is commutative and associative.
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
 This is the simplest equivalent force system to which a system of forces can be reduced.
 The resultant is the vector sum of all the individual forces acting on the particle or rigid body.

Parallelogram law Triangle law Source:

Vector Mechanics for Engineers, Beer et al.
 Brief Review of Geometry

D
C • From Diagram (a),
A
B D + A = 180o
(a)
D + C = 180o
 A = C and B = D
H G
E F From Diagram (b),
(b) G = E=K=I
L K H =F=L=J
I J

Q From Diagram (c),

M + N + Q =180
(c) N P N =180 - P
M
2-8
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
 The resultant may be determined through the Graphical or Trigonometric Approaches.

 Graphical approach – Parallelogram, Triangle or Polygon rules of vector addition.

 Trigonometric approach – Sine and Cosine rules.

 Force Components approach.

 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Example 1.1
Determine the Resultant of the forces shown below:

150 N

200 N
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Solution to Example 1.1 – Graphical Approach
1N = 1mm

Triangle Law
Parallelogram Law
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Solution to Example 1.1 - Trigonometric Approach
Recall

R
150 N

θ
200 N
 EXAMPLE 1-2 : TRY ON YOUR OWN

Graphical Solution

Graphical solution - A half or full parallelogram

with sides equal to P and Q is drawn to scale.

Determine resultant of forces Q

and P acting on the bolt shown
above and angle the resultant The magnitude and direction of the resultant or
makes with the horizontal axis. of the diagonal to the parallelogram are
measured,
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Example 1.2
A stake is being pulled out of the ground by means of two ropes as shown below. Knowing the
magnitude and direction of the force exerted on one rope, determine the magnitude and direction
of the force P, that should be exerted on the other rope if the resultant of these two forces is to be
a 40 N vertical force. Also determine the angle the 30 N force makes with the unknown force.

30 N
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Solution to Example 1.2
Free Body Diagram

From the Cosine Rule,

P P2 =402 + 302 – 2(40)(30)cos 25ᵒ

40 N P = 18.02 N.

θo 40 N
From the Sine Law

30 N P
θo
25o 30 N
25o
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Example 1.3
The cable stays AB and AD help support pole AC. Knowing that the tension is 120 N in AB and
40 N in AD, determine the magnitude of the resultant of the forces exerted by the stays at A.

10 cm

8 cm 6 cm
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Solution to Example 1.3
FBD
A
38.7o
120 N

From the Cosine Rule,

38.7o 31o AC
120 N 40 N
110.3o
AC2 =402 + 1202 – 2(40)(120)cos 110.3ᵒ
AC = 139.04 N.
40 N
31o
B D
C
 FORCES
Resultant of Forces
Example 1.4
Two men are trying to roll the boulder by applying the forces shown. Determine the magnitude
and direction of the force that is equivalent to the two applied forces.

TRY OUT IN CLASS!!!

 FORCES
Resultant of Forces - Force Components approach
 This approach requires the forces to be resolved into Rectangular or Cartesian components.

 Like components are then summed to get the components of the resultant force.

 Magnitude and direction of the resultant force can be obtained through appropriate Trigonometry
techniques
 FORCES
Resolving Forces in a Plane Into Rectangular Components – ScalarApproach

c a
b
 FORCES
Resolving Forces in a Plane Into Rectangular Components – Unit VectorApproach
 The force is expressed as a product of its magnitude and it’s unit vector.

x
 FORCES
Resultants by Summing Components
 For instance,

Q
 Resultants

Example 2.1
Find resultant of the forces shown using the unit vector approach.
 Resultants
Example 2.1-Solution

F1

F2
F3
 Resultants
Example 2.2
The cable stays AB and AD help support pole AC. Knowing that the tension is 120 N in AB and
40 N in AD, determine the magnitude and direction of the resultant of the forces exerted by the
stays at A.

10 cm

8 cm 6 cm
 Resultants
Example 2.2 - Solution

A x

38.7o 31o
F2 = 120 N F1= 40 N

B y D
 FORCES
Resolving Forces in Space Into Rectangular Components – ScalarApproach
 The same idea is extended to forces in space. A third component, Fz is introduced.
Diagrams from: Vector Mechanics
for Engineers, Beer et al.
 FORCES
Resolving Forces in Space Into Rectangular Components – Unit Vector Approach
 For the Cartesian Unit Vector Approach,

F
 Direction Cosines
The direction cosines are the
cosine of angles between the
tail of a vector and the positive
x, y and z axes.

Unit vector for the force can be computed as

If a force of magnitude is directed along a line r, then

Direction Cosines
the force vector is defined as
 FORCES
Resultants by Summing Components
 Like components are summed to obtain the components of the resultant.
Example 2-3 RESULTANT 3D
Determine the magnitude and coordinate direction angles of the resultant force.
 Resultants 3D
Example 2.4
Determine the magnitude of the resultant force acting on the point O and it’s direction
measured from the x - axis.
 Resultants
Example 2.4 solution
 Resultants
Example 2.4
Cable AB is 65 ft long, and the tension in that cable is 3900 lb. Determine (a) the x, y, and
z components of the force exerted by the cable on the anchor B.
 Resultants
Example 2.3 – Solution

cos θ = 56
65
θ = 30.51 o
Fx = -(3900sin30.51 o )cos20o
Fz = (3900sin30.51 o )sin 20o
Fy = Fcos θ= 3900cos(30.51)

Fh = Fsin θ= 3900sin(30.51) o
 Example 2-5
The tension in the guy wire is 2500 N.
Determine:
a) components Fx, Fy, Fz of the force acting on the bolt at A,
b) the angles Ѳx, Ѳy, Ѳz defining the direction of the force

SOLUTION:
• Based on the relative locations of the points A and
B, determine the unit vector pointing from A towards
B.

• Apply the unit vector to determine the components

of the force.
acting on A.
• Noting that the components of the unit vector are
the direction cosines for the vector, calculate the
corresponding angles.
Example 2-5
 Resultants

Example 2.6
A rectangular plate is supported by three cables as shown. Knowing that the tension in
cable AC is 60 N, determine the components of the force being exerted at C.

Ans :
Fc = -36i +38.4 j -28.8k
 QUIZ 2
Q1. Determine the magnitude of the
resultant force and its direction
measured from the positive x axis. Q2. A force of 500 N forms angles of
60°, 45°, and 120°, respectively, with
the x, y, and z axes. Find the
components Fx, Fy, and Fz of the
force and express the force in terms
of unit vectors.

FX= 250 N FY= 354 N FZ= -250 N

F= ( 250 i + 354 j – 250 k) N

ANSWERS: RX= 58.284 N RY= -15.604 N R= 60.34 N theta= 345 degrees

MOMENT OF FORCES
 MOMENT OF A FORCE
 Forces have the tendency to cause two types motions in rigid bodies; translational and
rotational motions (also known as Torque).

 The tendency of a force to rotate a body is referred to as moment, given by the product of
the force and the perpendicular distance between it’s line of action and the point or axis
that the body is rotating about.

 It follows that a moment may occur about a point or an axis.

 Product of Two Vectors
Concept of the moment of a force about a point is more easily understood
through applications of the vector product or cross product.

• Vector product of two vectors P and Q is defined as the vector V which

satisfies the following conditions:

1. Line of action of V is perpendicular to plane containing P and Q.

2.Magnitude of V is V= PQ SinѲ

3. Direction of V is obtained from the right-hand rule.

Vector products:
- are not commutative, Q x P = - (P x Q)

- are distributive, P x(Q1 +Q2 ) = (P xQ1)+ (P xQ2)

- are not associative, (P x Q)x S ǂ P x(Q x S)

Product of Two Vectors
 Moment of a Force

 Moment about a point tends to rotate a body about that point, known as the moment
centre.

 d must be in a specific direction (determined by the line of action of the force). As such,
it can be represented by a vector.
 Moment of a force

 d is always perpendicular to the Force’s line of action because the Force is treated as
sliding vector, due to the principle of transmissibility in rigid body mechanics.

 The direction of the moment is determined by the right hand rule.

 Moment of a Force
Two-dimensional structures have length and breadth but negligible
depth and are subjected to forces contained in the plane of the structure.

• The plane of the structure contains the point O and the force F. MO,
the moment of the force about O is perpendicular to the plane.

• If the force tends to rotate the structure counter clockwise, the

sense of the moment vector is out of the plane of the structure and the
magnitude of the moment is positive.

• If the force tends to rotate the structure clockwise, the sense of the
moment vector is into the plane of the structure and the magnitude of
the moment is negative.
 Principle of Moments (Varignon’s Theorem )

 States that the moment about a given point O of the resultant of several concurrent
forces is equal to the sum of the moments of the various forces about the same point O.
 In effect, moments of force components can be taken to get the components of a
resultant moment.
 Calculating the Moment of a force
 Scalar Approach
M o = Fd
 Only the magnitude of the moment is calculated using only the magnitudes of the force
and the moment arm, d.

 Used when the moment, d can easily be determined. The sense of the moment is
determined by inspection.

 Vector Approach
 The force and the distance from the moment center to the line of action of the of the
force are both expressed as vectors and their cross product determined.
 Calculating the Moment of a force

 Multiplying Vectors
 Vectors are expressed in components, arranged in a matrix form, and the determinant of
the matrix taken.
If
Expressing as a matrix,

Taking the determinant of the matrix,

 Calculating the Moment of a force
 Multiplying Vectors
 Alternatively, the vector components are multiplied.

But

Therefore,
Calculating the Moment of a force at a certain point about an arbitrary point
In this case,
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.1

Determine the moment of the force F about point A.

 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.1 – Solution (Vector Approach)

 Calculating the Moment of a force
Example 3.1 – Solution (Scalar Approach)

OR
The vector is treated as a sliding vector and moved to point C
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.2
A 100-lb vertical force is applied to the
end of a lever which is attached to a
shaft at O.
Determine:
a) moment about O,
b) horizontal force at A which creates the
same moment,
c) smallest force at A which produces the
same moment,
d) location for a 240-lb vertical force to
produce the same moment,
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.2 - solution

FBD Moment about O is equal to the product of the force and the
perpendicular distance between the line of action of the force
and O.

Since the force tends to rotate the lever clockwise, the moment
vector is into the plane of the paper.
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.2 - Solution

FBD
Horizontal force at A that produces the same moment,
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.2 Solution

FBD The smallest force A to produce the same moment occurs when
the perpendicular distance is a maximum or when F is
perpendicular to OA.
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.2 - Solution

The point of application of a 240 lb force to produce the same moment,
FBD
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.3
Determine the moment of the force F, about point C and the perpendicular distance between
C and the line of action of the force F
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.3 - Solution

 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.4
Determine the moment of the 800 N force about point A.

Ans: M A = - 131.99 Nm
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.5
The rectangular plate is supported by the brackets at A and B and by a wire CD.
Knowing that the tension in the wire is 200 N, determine the moment about A of
the force exerted by the wire at C.
 Calculating the Moment of a force

Example 3.5 - Solution

k
 Moment of a force about an axis
 Calculated by finding the scalar /dot product of a directional vector along
the axis of interest, and the moment about a point on the axis
 Moment of a force about an axis

 Scalar product of two vectors

Written in a different format

i.i=1 j.i=0 k.i=0

i.j=0 j.j=1 k.j=1

i.k=0 j.k=0 k.k=1

 Moment of a force about an axis

 Mixed triple product of three vectors

 Moment of a force about an arbitrary axis

 Mixed triple product of three vectors

 COUPLES
 This refers to two parallel, noncollinear forces that are equal in magnitude and opposite

in direction.

 It is a free vector that can be applied anywhere

 Calculating the Moment of a Couple
Scalar approach
Vector Approach
 Some Properties of Couples

 Two couples are considered equivalent if

 their moments is of the same magnitude
 They lie in the same plane
 Tend to cause rotation in the same direction

 Couples are vectors

 They obey Varignon’s Theorem