6 CH"'PfE~ 1 GEN~Ir"" l PR INCIPLES

Newton 's Thre e l aws of Motion . Engineering mechanics is

formulated on the basis of Newton"s three laws of mOlion. the validit)' of
which is based on I:.~pc rim cn lal obse rvation. These laws appl)' [0 the
motion of a particle as measured from a /lQIII/cedeNt/ilIS rcfcrcneo.::
frame. They may be bricny Slated as follows.

Firs t law. A part ide originally al rest. or moving in a straight line wilh
constant velocit)'. lends to remai n in this Slale prO\ided the particle is 1101
subjected [0 an unbalanced force. Fig. I- la.

"'Y" "

"
,.)
Equ,hbf;um

Second law. A particle acted upon by an UllIN/lillie!'" force F

cxpcricnC'cs an accele ration a Ih:1\ has the same di r('~ lion as th e force
and a magnitude Ihal is directly proportional 10 the force. Fig. I- l b.-
If F is applied to a particlc o r mass III, this law mar be exprcssed
malhe rnatil;'a ll yas

F = ilia ( I - I)

Third Law. The mlllu:.1 Cortes of al;'tion au d rcal;'lion belween two

particles arc eqllal. opposite. and collinc;lr. Fig. l- lr.

/ 'pm: of A on H
'~ F
A H I... fo",",ofHonA

fijt. I_ I

'Slaled ~n<>lher w~l'. Ihe unb;llan«d force IICIln8 on Ihe parllck;$ Il""ponionallo lhe
Ijme nile of change 0( Ihe pa",ck'5 liMa. momenlum,
 1.3 UNITS 01' MEASUREMeNT 7

Newton's Law of Gravitational Attraction. Shorlly arter

fommlating his three laws of mOl ion. Newton postulated a law governing the
gravita tional attraction betwccn any t".-o j)drliclcs. Stated mathematically.

(1- 2)

where

,.. '" Forcc of gravitmion between the two panicles

G = universal constant of grnvitation; nu:ording to
ellJXrimcntal evidence, G = 66.73( I O-t~) mJ/ (kg· s!)
lilt. III ~ = mass ofcm;h of the lWO panicles
r = diSlal"lcc betwccl"llhc two panicles
Weight. According 10 Eq. 1- 2. any two particles or bodies have u
mutual attractive (gravi tational ) force acting between thelll. In the casc
of a partide 1000:aled :.t or ncar the surface (If the earth, however, the only
gravitational force having any sizable magni1Ude is thM between the
e;lrt h and the part ide. Consequently. this force. termed the weighl. will be
the only gnll'il(lIional force considered in our study of mechanics.
From Etl. 1- 2. we can develop an appro.~imate expression for finding Ihe
weight IV of a particle having a mass lilt = III. U we assulllc the earlh to be
a nonrotating sphere of cort~tant densit y and having 11 mllSS r112 = M, . lhen
if ris the distancc between the earth's center and the particle. we have

111M,
IV = G- -,- Th~ astronaut is wcighrl,,~ for all
r practical purpos~ ... since she is far
removed from Ihe gravitational r",ld of
Letting X = GM,I' ! yields Ihe earth.

IV - 1118 I ( 1- 3)

By comparison with F '" ilia. we can s..."<: th:lt Ii is the accclemtion due to
gravity. Since il depends on ,.then the weight of a body is 11m an absolute
qu(tntity. lnslead, its magnitude is detennined frOIll where the measurcm~nt
was llIade. For most engineering clliculatiuns, huwever. g is detCmlinoo at
sea level and at a latitude of 45°. which isconsidcr,,"(] the "standard location."

1,3 Units of Measurement

The four basic quan1ities - Ien g1h. time. mass. and force - arc nOI all
imlcpcncJcnt from o ne another:in fact. they arc ,elllled b}' Newton's second
law of mOtion, F = 111>1. Because of this. the IIl1ilS used 10 measure these
qU11llli1ies cannot Ill! be selected arbitrarily. The equalit y F 0: mll is
maintained only if three of the four units. called bal'C Imils. arc deft/It'll
and th e fou rth unit is then derivl'(! fromthc eq uatio n.
8 C",APTER 1 GENERAl PRIN CIPtES

SI Un its. The intcmmiomal System of units. abbrcvi;,h:d SI aftcr the

French "Systemc In!Crn:llionai d'Unitt's," is .. mcxkrn \'crsion of the metric
system which has received worldwide recognition. As shown in Ta bk \- 1.
the SI system defines kngth in IllCICrs (m).limc in seconds (s).and mass in
kilograms (kg). The uni t of force. c;!lied a newton (N). is dl.'ril'clf from
F = maoThUs, 1 newton is l'qua lto a force required \0 gh'e I kil ogram of
,.) mass an acrclcmlioll of J m/ s2 (N :0 kg· m/s2).
If the we ight of .1 body located at .he "standard location" is \0 Ix:
determined in newtons. then Eq. 1-3 must IX: applied. Here measurements
give g = 9.806 6S m/ 52: however. for calculalions..lhc val ue 11 '" 9.8J 111/ ;;2
will be used. Thus.

IV = 1118 (g = 9.81 m/s~) (1-4)

Thcrdorc. a body of mass I kg has a weight of9.81 N.:I 2· kg bod)' weighs

19.62 N. and so on. Fig. 1- 2a.

U.S. Customary. In the U.S. Customary s),stem of units (FPS) leng.th

is measu red in fec t (fl). time in seconds (s). ;md force in pounds (lb),
Table I-\. 'Illc uni l of mass. e.[!led a .f/ug. is tleril'l.'(i from I' "" mao)-knee.
fig. 1- 2 I slug is equal to Ihe amuunt of mailer accelerated al I fl/ S2 whcn acted
upon bY:I force uf 1 III (slug "" lb· s2/ft).
Therefore. if the measurements arc made at tho.: "standard location:'
where g "" 32.2 f1/52, then from Eq. 1- 3,

I\'
II! "" -
g

And SO;l body weighing 32.2 Ib has a mass of 1 slug. a fi4.4·lb body has a
mass of2 slugs. Hnd so on. Fig. 1- 2b.

TABLE 1- 1 Systems of Umt~

Name Length Time Mass Force

Inlcrn~tional meter sccond kilogram I newton-I

System of Units
51 m , k, N

(k'/)
u.s. Customary roo' second Islug-I pound
FPS
, (";:.:) ,.
.I><.., .... ~ WIn
"
 1.4 THE INTERNATIONAl S~1€M OF UMlS 9

Conver sion of Units. Table 1-2 pro\'idcs a sct of direct conversion

factors between FI'S and SI units for the basic quan tities. Also. in the
FI'5 system. recall that I fI ". 12 in. (inches). 5280 fI '" I mi (mile).
1000 Ib =- I Idp (ki lo-pound).;\IId 2000 Ib '" I 1011.

TABLE 1-2 Conversion Filctor s

Unilof Unit of
Quantity Measurement (FPS) Equals Measurement (SI)
Force Ib 4A48N
M,u slug 14.5<) kg
LenS1h
" 0.30-1 8 m

1.4 The International System of Units

The 51syslem or units is uSl!d eXlcnsivcly in this book since il is intended
10 becollle Ihe worldwide standard for measuremcllt.l11ercfore. we will
now present some of the rules for its use ~nd some of ils terminology
relevant to engineering mechanics.

Pref ixes . When a numerical quantity is either very IMge or vcry

small. the units used to define its size may be modified by using a prefix.
Somc of the prefixcs used in thc 51 system are shown in Table 1- 3. Each
represents a multiple or submulliple of a unit which. if applied
successively. moves the decimal point of a numerical quantity to every
third platt.· For cxample. 4 000 000 N = 4 000 kN (kilo-newton) '" 4 MN
(mega-newton). or 0.005 m = 5 mm (milli·meter). Notice th"t the S[
syslCm d~s nOI include the multip!.:: deca ([0) or the submultiple centi
(O.O[). which form part of the melric system. Exce pt for some volume
and area measur,·menls.. the use of these prefi.~es is to be l\1'oidcd in
science and engineering.

TABLE 1-3 Prefu(e~

Exponential Form Prefi)( 51 Symbol

AlIIWple
I 000 COO COO 10' 111113 G
1000000
I 000
Ill'
Ill'
mella
~ilo
,
M

Submulliple
0.001 10 ' milli m
O.COO 001
O.COO 000 00 I
10'
10'
micro
nano
•
"
• n.., k'togrnnl is 'hf onty baloC uni, ,1", i. defined wilh" p,cI;".
10 CH"'PfE~ 1 GEN~Ir"' l P~ I N CI PlES
CompU!C";3,e ohen uscd in enginee,ing ror
:><.h·anced d... ign and anal)·~is..
Rules f or Use. Here arc:. few of Ihe imponant rules Ihat describe
the proper usc of the \'l.riOUS SI symbols:
• Quantitiesdefined by scveml units which arc multiples of onc another
arc scpar:lled by a rim to avoid confusion \lith prefL'I: notation. as
indi cal<:d by N = kg· m/ sl = kg· m· s- 2. Also. m . s (meter·second).
wll\."reas ms (milli·second).
• The exponential power on a unil having a prefix refe rs to both the
unit 111111 its prefix. For cxample.~N! = (JLN)t = j.JN· p.N. Likewise.
mm! rcpresents (mOl)! '" 0101· mm.
• With the exce ption of the base unit the kilogram. in gene r:.] avoid
the usc of a prefix in the denominator of composite units. For
cxample. do not wri te N/ mm. but rather kN/ m; also. m/ mg should
be written as 1\·lm/ kg.
• When pe rforming calculations.. rC'p resent the num bers in terms of
th eir btrst or t/cril't"d IlIIil~' by convcrting all prefix~'$ to pow\'rs of 10.
The final result should then be expressed using 11 singlr PUfi.l . Also.
after calculation. it is best to kee p numerical values betll'een 0.1 and
10Cl0; otherwise. a suitable prefix should be chosen. For CX1,mple,
(50 kN)(60 nm) = [5O(IO l ) NI[6O(1O- 9 ) mJ
"" 3000(10-6) N· m = 3(IO- J ) N· m = 3 mN · m
1.5 Numerical Calculations
Numerical work in engincering practice is mOSt often pcrfonned b)' using
handheld calculators and computers. It is important. hOIl'e\'er. that the
answers to any problem be reported with both justifiable accu racy and
appropria tc significant figu res. In this section we will disellss th\'se topics
together with some other important aspects in\'olved in all engineering
calculations.
Dime nsiona l Ho mog e neity. The lemlS of :lIly etluation used to
deseribe a ph ysical process must be Ilillle/ll'iOllllfly IWlllogelll.'o/ls: Ihat is.
each term mUSI be expressed in the Slime unlls. Provided this is the case.
all the IcmlS of an equalion , an Ihe n Ix: combined if numerical va lues
are subslilnted for the variables. Consider. for example. thc equation
s '= ~'t + ll1fz, where. in SI units.s is the position in me ters. m. t is time in
seconds. s. v is \·docit)' in ml s :md II is acceleration in III/ SZ. Rcgardless of
how this equation is evaluated. it maintains its dimensional homogeneity.
In th e form staled. each of Ihe three terms is expressed in lIleters
[m.(III/ t)3', (m/ sl)sl.J or soll'ing for 11.11 = 2.s/' ~ - lV/ I . the temlS arc
each c~p rcsscd in unilS of III/ S! 1m/s!o m/sz, (III/S)lSJ.