Mechanics

Is a branch of the physical sciences that is concerned with the state of the rest of motion of bodies that
are subjected to the action of forces.
Statics – deals with the
3 branches of mechanics equilibrium of bodies, that is
 Rigid-body mechanics those that are either at rest or
 Deformable-body mechanics move with constant velocity
 Fluid mechanics.
dynamics – concerned with
the accelerated motion of
bodies

Force
a vector quantity, because its effect depends on the direction as well as on the magnitude of the
action. Thus, forces may be combined according to the parallelogram law of vector addition.
Coplanar force system
- have all the forces acting in in one plane. They may be concurrent, parallel, non-concurrent
or non-parallel
concurrent coplanar force system is a
system of two or more forces whose lines
of action ALL intersect at a common
point.

parallel coplanar force system consists of

two or more forces whose lines of action
are ALL parallel.

non-concurrent and non-

parallel system. This consists of a
number of vectors that do not meet at a
single point and none of them are
parallel. These systems are essentially a
jumble of forces and take considerable care

Two-Dimensional Force
Rectangular component
- The most common two-dimensional resolution of a force vector is into rectangular
components. It follows from the parallelogram rule that the vector F.
 where Fx and Fy are vector components of F in the
x- and y-directions. Each of the two vector
components may be written as a scalar times the
appropriate unit vector.
Figure 1

The scalar components can be positive or negative, depending on the quadrant into which F
points. For the force vector of Fig. 1, the x and y scalar components are both positive and
are related to the magnitude and direction of F by
F x =F cosθ

F y =F sinθ

F=√ F x 2+ F y 2

−1 Fy
θ=tan ( )
Fx

F=F x + F y
 Rectangular components are convenient for finding the sum or resultant R of two forces
which are concurrent. Consider two forces F1 and F2 which are originally concurrent at a
point O.

Figure 2

Figure 2 shows the line of action of F2 shifted from O to the tip of F1 according to the
triangle rule. In adding the force vectors F1 and F2, we may write

or

from which we conclude that

The term ΣFx means “the algebraic sum of the x scalar components”.
Sample Problem 1
Determine the magnitude of the resultant of the following concurrent forces: F1 = 90N @
45°, F2 =50N @ 100°, and F3 = 70N @ 320°.
Sample Problem 2
The forces F1, F2, and F3, all of which act on point A of the bracket, are specified in three
different ways. Determine the x and y scalar components of each of the three forces.
Sample Problem 3
The screw eye is subjected to two forces F1 and F2, Determine the magnitude and direction
of the resultant force.
Moment
is a measure of its tendency to cause a body to rotate about a specific point or axis. This is
different from the tendency for a body to move, or translate, in the direction of the force. In
order for a moment to develop, the force must act upon the body in such a manner that the
body would begin to twist.
The moment arm or lever arm is the perpendicular distance between the line of action of
the force and the center of moments.

Varignon’s theorem
 states that the moment of any force is equal to the
algebraic sum of the moments of the components of that
force vector F.
Sample Problem 4
Calculate the magnitude of the moment about the base point O of the 600-N force in five
different ways.
Sample Problem 5
Assuming counterclockwise moments as positive, compute the moment of force F = 500 N
and force P = 250 N about points A, B, C, and D.
 
Equilibrium of Force
Statics deals primarily with the description of the force conditions necessary and sufficient
to maintain the equilibrium of engineering structures. The body is said to be in equilibrium
if the resultant of all forces acting on it is zero.
Formulas:
Concurrent force system
ΣFx=0 (The sum of all forces in the x-direction or horizontal is zero.)
ΣFy=0 (The sum of all forces in the y-direction or vertical is zero.)

Parallel Force System

ΣF=0 (The sum of all the forces is zero.)
ΣMO=0 (The sum of moment at any point O is zero.)

Non-Concurrent Non-Parallel Force System

ΣFx=0 (The sum of all forces in the x-direction or horizontal is zero.)
ΣFy=0 (The sum of all forces in the y-direction or vertical is zero.)
ΣMO=0 (The sum of moment at any point O is zero.)

Support and Connection

The types of supports can be mainly classified into two types

 External supports
Roller Support - free to rotate and translate along the surface upon which the roller
rests. The resulting reaction force is always a single force that is perpendicular to,
and away from, the surface.

pinned support - can resist both vertical and horizontal forces but not a moment. They will
allow the structural member to rotate, but not to translate in any direction.
FIXED SUPPORT -  can resist vertical and horizontal forces as well as a moment. Since
they restrain both rotation and translation, they are also known as rigid supports.
Sample Problem 6
The crate has a weight of650 lb.. Determine the force in each supporting cable.
Sample Problem 7
If the mass of cylinder C is 85 kg, determine the mass of cylinder A in order to hold the
assembly in the position shown.
Sample Problem 8
Figure P-313 represents the concurrent force system acting at a joint of a bridge truss.
Determine the value of P and E to maintain equilibrium of the forces.
Resultant of Distributed
The resultant of a distributed load is equal to the area of the load diagram. It is acting at the
centroid of that area as indicated. The figure below shows the three common distributed
loads namely; rectangular load, triangular load, and trapezoidal load.
Sample Problem 9
Determine the reactions for the beam shown 
Sample Problem 10
Determine the reactions for the beam shown