Sean Dalton

www.itsligo.ie/staff/sdalton

Course Format
Lectures/Tutorials
Laboratory Work
Course Assessment
Laboratory Work (20%)
Assessments (20%)
Final Exam (60%)
Requirements
Mechanical Engineering Science (Hannah+Hillier)
Engineering Science (Hughes and Hughes)
Scientific Calculator
Science Notebook
Course Content
- Forces systems: Triangle of Forces, Bowes notation
- Moments: Principle of moments, levers etc
- Centroid of Area, Centre of gravity
- Friction:Horizontal and Inclided surfaces
- Stress and strain: Elastic/Plastic, Factor of Safey
- Linear Motion: Force and Acceleration
- Rotary motion and Torque
- Centrifugal Force
- Simple Machines

Mechanics is divided into two areas:

Statics is the area of mechanics which allows us
to work out forces in stationary structures.
Dynamics allows us to determine to effect of a
force on an object which is free to move.
Steps when answering Questions
 Thefollowing steps should  Calculate the
be followed when solving diameter of a
mechanics problems circle of area 1m2
- State what is being calculated
- Write down the formula
- Rearrange the formula
Calculating diameter
……………..(if necessary)
A = /4 D2
- Insert Values
D =  4A
- Calculate the answer

- Add units
=  4x1
- Underline the answer

= 1.128 m
Units
 All
Quantities in Mechanics must conform to
some system of units
- The Imperial system
- The Metric system
- International system of Units SI units
 Base Units Vs. Derived Units
 There are 7 base units (5 reqd. in Mechanic)
Units
 All
remaining units are called derived units
Achieved by combining the base units
Multiples of Base Units
Mass Vs. Weight
 Mass is defined as the amount of
matter (material) in a body (and is
expressed in kilograms)
 Weight is the force exerted by
gravity acting on a body (and is
expressed in Newtons)

- Whether on the earth or the moon the amount of

sugar in a bag of sugar is constant.
This is a measure of its mass. in Kilograms
- However it will feel heavier on the earth than on
the moon.
This is a measure of its weight. In Newtons
Pressure/stress
 Pressure is a measure
of the force per unit
area (units N/m2)
-P = F Force
A Area
- A man and woman of equal Area (man) =  302 /2 + 12 x 60
mass (80kg) stand on a = 1414 + 720 = 1170mm2
floor. If the man is wearing Area (woman) =  82 /2 + 3 x 16
flat shoes and woman is = 100 + 48 = 148mm2
wearing stiletto heals as
shown calculate the
maximum pressure exerted Pressure (man) = 784.8/1170 =
on the floor in each case. 0.67 N/mm2 (MN/m2)
Pressure (woman) = 784.8/148 =
Weight = 80x9.81= 784.8N 5.3 N/mm2 (MN/m2)
Triangle/Polygon of Forces
 A Force is that which changes or tends to change
a bodies state of rest or of uniform motion in a
straight line.
 The unit of Force is called the Newton and is the
force required to give a mass of 1kg an
acceleration of 1m/s2.
 A quantity which has both magnitude and direction
is referred to as a Vector quantity (Force)
 A quantity which has magnitude only is a Scalar
quantity (e.g. Mass, Time)
Vector representation of forces
 Since a force has both magnitude and direction it
can be represented by a vector
 The arrow indicates the direction of the force
 The length of the arrow indicates the magnitude of
the force (drawn to a suitable scale)

Force Scale Vector

2 N = 1 cm
10 N 5 cm

20 N 10 cm
Resultant/Equilibrant
 When a number of forces act on
a body the resultant force is that 5N
single force which would have
the same effect 10 N
- This can be found by representing
the forces as vectors and adding
them head to tail 15 N

 The equilibrant is that force Scale: 1N = 1cm

which must be applied to a
system to produce equilibrium.
(equal and opposite to resultant)
10 cm 5 cm
Resultant
15 cm

Equilibrant
Resultant
 Find the resultant forces
shown opposite

 Find the resultant of the

forces shown below
Triangle of Forces
 If 3 forces are acting on an Point of
object but it remains stationary concurrency
then it is said to be in
equilibrium. (this implies ‘no
resultant’)
 In order for a body to be in
equilibrium under the action of
3 coplanar forces:
- the lines of action of the 3 forces Closed Triangle
must pass through a common point
of concurrency.
- the forces when represented by
vectors added end to end will form a
closed triangle.
- The principle of concurrency
- The triangle of forces
Example
 A mass of 10 kg is suspended by two cords from
points D and E. Calculate the tension in each chord.
Example
 Determine the
force in the rods
AB and BC when
carrying a load of
8kN.  = 60o

W = 8000 N
Fbc = 9237.6 N
Fab = 4618.8 N
Example
 The80kg is
supported by 2
rods AB and BC.
Determine the
force in each rod.

W = 784.8N
FAB = 632.4N
FBC = 395.2N
Example
 A jib crane has a jib 5 m long and a tie rod 3.5 m long
attached to a post 2 m vertically above the foot of the
jib. Determine the force in the jib and the tie rod when
a mass of 3 tonnes is suspended from it.

51.5kN
3.5m
3T 38.7o

5m 73.6kN
2m 29.43kN
56.9o
Example
- Shown below is a jib crane. Determine the force
in the tie and the magnitude and direction of the
force at the lower wall joint
Resolution of Forces
 Instead of solving forces graphically they can be
solved mathematically (using trigonometry). Any single
force acting at a point can be replaced by a pair of
forces which have the same effect.
 Where these two 'component forces' are at right
angles to each other they can be found easily using
trigonometry. When a force is broken down into its
component forces the force is said to have been
'resolved into its components'.
Fx = F Cos 
Fy = F Sin 
Resolution of Forces
Four co-planer forces act at a
point 0, the values and
directions of the forces being
as shown opposite. Calculate
the magnitude and direction of
the resultant.
Force Net horizontal force Net vertical force
50 50 Cos (0) = 50 50 Sin (0) = 0
30 30 Cos (120) = -15 30 Sin (120) = 26
20 20 Cos (210) = -17.32 20 Sin (210) = -10
10 10 Cos (-90) = 0 10 Sin (-90) = -10
17.68 N 6N

Magnitude of Resultant
F = (17.682 + 62) = 18.67 N

Angle of Resultant
 = Tan-1 (6/17.68)
= Tan-1 (0.339) = 18.74o
Resolution of Forces (Problems)

For the 5 forces shown

determine the
magnitude and nature
of the resultant.
[36.87@20.7o]
Resolution of Forces
Question 2 (Huges P38 Q22)
The following forces act at a point.
20 N due north
30 N 20 degrees south of east
10 N south west
16 N 5 degrees south of west
Calculate the magnitude and direction of the resultant.
[5.36N at 13.8o north of east]
Question 3 (Hughes P38 Q21)
The following horizontal forces act at a point:
50N in a direction due east
80N in a direction due south
and 30 N in a direction 20o north.
Calculate the direction of the fourth force necessary to maintain
equilibrium. [73N at 72.6 north of west]
Moments
 The moment of a force about a point is
a measure of its turning effect and is
defined as the product of:- F
1 The force
2 The shortest distance
(perpendicular distance) x
to the line of action of the force F

x
 The point about which a body is free
to rotate is called the fulcrum.

 The leverarm is the shortest distance

(perpendicular distance) from the
fulcrum to the line of action of the
force.
Principle of Moments
 When a body is in equilibrium under the action of any
number of forces, the sum of the clockwise moments
about any point in the body is equal to the sum of the
anticlockwise moments about the same point.

Clockwise Moments = Anticlockwise Moments

 A lever is a simple machine, which applies the

principle of moments to give a mechanical advantage.
Moments
Alever is pivoted at its mid point C. 5kg
is suspended at E 180mm from C.
Calculate the mass required at D to
maintain balance.
Moments
 Determine the position of the suspension
point in order for the lever to be balanced.
Moments
 Forthe Beam shown determine the
reactions at the supports
Moments
Centroid of Area
 Determine the location of the centroid of
area of the shape shown below.
- [300mm]
- [137.2mm]
Friction

 When an object is placed on a surface the object

will exert a normal force(W) on the surface.
 The surface prevents the object sinking into it by
exerting a normal reaction force(Rn) upwards.
 In order to move the object by applying a force P,
a tangential force (called friction F acting in the
opposite direction) must be overcome.
Laws of Friction
 If a force P is applied to the book an equal but opposite force
called friction is exerted by the table to maintain equilibrium.
 If the value of P is increased the friction force must increase
accordingly.
 There is a limit beyond which the friction force cannot increase. If
P exceeds this value sliding starts. The maximum force is called
the limiting friction force.
 The value of the limiting friction force is proportional to the normal
force Rn and is independent of the area of contact.
 =F = limiting friction where:  = coeff. of friction
Rn Normal reaction
F =  Rn
 It will also be noticed that it takes a larger force to initiate
movement than it does to maintain it.
st > sl st = coefficient of static friction
sl = coefficient of sliding friction
Angle of Repose
 The angle of inclination of the
surface just prior to slippage
is called the angle of repose.
 Force up slope = Force down slope
F = W Sin 
 Rn = W Sin 
 W Cos  = W Sin 
 = W Sin 
W Cos 
= Tan 
Angle of repose
 Box A weighs 100 N and box
B weighs and the coefficient of
friction between the box and
the ramp is 0.3. For what
range of weights B will the
block neither
- (a) slide up the slope or
- (b) slide down the slope.