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Equilibrium 6
Equilibrium 6
FE3 EQUILIBRIUM
OBJECTIVES
Aims
In this chapter you will learn the concepts and principles needed to understand mechanical
equilibrium. You should be able to demonstrate your understanding by analysing simple examples
of equilibrium. You will also learn about the interactions between fluids and solid bodies as well as
the concepts - buoyant force and pressure - used to describe the interactions.
Minimum learning goals
When you have finished studying this chapter you should be able to do all of the following.
1. Explain, interpret and use the terms
translational motion, rotational motion, rigid body, equilibrium, stable equilibrium, unstable
equilibrium, neutral equilibrium, axis, torque [moment of a force], centre of gravity,
buoyancy, buoyant force, Archimedes' principle, pressure, pascal, density, barometer.
2. State and apply the relation between force and torque.
3. State the conditions for equilibrium and apply them to simple problems.
4. Describe and explain how the centre of gravity of a body can be located.
5. Describe and explain the forces acting on a body which is wholly or partly immersed in fluid.
Solve simple problems involving buoyancy.
PRE-LECTURE
Introduction
This chapter deals mainly with the equilibrium of rigid bodies. The conclusions about rigid bodies
can also be applied to some examples of non-rigid bodies, such as bodies of fluid at rest. We start
with two simple examples of objects in equilibrium: an object at rest and one moving with constant
velocity.
All the examples and principles discussed in this chapter are restricted to systems in which all
the forces can be described in two dimensions - a plane. The extension to general three-dimensional
systems uses the same concepts but is mathematically much more complex.
pull
A frictional force opposes the motion. Draw in this force and the other forces on the block.
Again, the block is not accelerating so the net force on it must be zero. What does this tell you about
the vertical and horizontal forces?
LECTURE
3-3 TORQUE
Example 3.1. Wheel on a fixed axle
Consider a wheel which can rotate about its axle. The axle remains in a fixed position. An
object is hung by a string from the rim of the wheel as shown in figure 3.3.
FA
W
F
Demonstrations
• Consider two wheels which have the same shape and the same total mass. One has a dense
metal rim, the other has a dense metal axle. Identical loads are hung from their rims. This
demonstration shows that the angular acceleration depends on the distribution of mass in the object.
metal rim
metal
axle
Forces Torques
FA
Torque
Fx
W
F
Forces Torques
FA
-Fx Fx
W
F F
It is obviously inconvenient to have to draw two diagrams for each example - one showing
forces and one showing torques. Henceforth both forces and torques will be shown on the same
diagram. Remember, however, that forces and torques are quite different entities and must be
combined separately.
3-6 CENTRE OF GRAVITY
Example 3.3. Centre of gravity of a flat object
A flat object is pivoted at the point P. See figure 3.8. Imagine that the object is divided up into
little pieces. The weight of each piece provides a torque about the pivot. The object will be in
equilibrium only if the torques due to all these pieces add up to zero.
Torque
Equilibrium
P P
Centre
of gravity W
W
x1 x2
W1 x 1 W 2x 2
W1 WS W2
W 1 + W 2 + W S - N = 0.
(ii)Total torque about an axis through the pivot = 0.
Taking clockwise as the positive sense:
W 2 x 2 - W 1 x 1 = 0.
This analysis is essentially the same as that for a beam balance.
moves forward
spins anticlockwise
push
push
moves forward
spins clockwise
moves forward
push
no spin
A net force not acting through the centre of gravity of a rigid body will cause translational
acceleration of the object as well as change in its rotational motion. The resulting motion can
be described as a combination of translational motion of the centre of gravity and rotational
motion about the centre of gravity.
3-10 BUOYANCY
When a solid object is wholly or partly immersed in a fluid, the fluid molecules are continually
striking the submerged surface of the object. The forces due to these impacts (which are sometimes
called pressure forces) can be combined into a single force, the buoyant force.
FE3: Equilibrium 34
Note that, for clarity, we show only the forces exerted by the surrounding fluid in this and the
following diagram.
We want to find the magnitude of the buoyant force and the point through which it acts.
Buoyant force on a completely submerged object
To work out how big this buoyant force is, and where it acts, we use the trick of thinking about
a 'block' of fluid, which has exactly the same shape and size as the solid object. This imaginary
portion of fluid is often called the 'displaced fluid'.
The pressure forces on this imaginary displaced fluid are exactly the same as the pressure
forces on the solid object. So their total effect, the buoyant force, will be the same, irrespective of
what is inside the broken outline. The buoyant forces on the solid object and the 'displaced fluid' are
identical.
Now the displaced fluid must be in equilibrium. Since the only other force on it is its weight,
which acts through its centre of gravity, the buoyant force must be equal to its weight, and it must act
vertically upward through its centre of gravity. Hence the buoyant force on the submerged block
must be equal to the weight of the displaced fluid and it must act vertically up through the centre of
gravity of the 'displaced' fluid body.
FE3: Equilibrium 35
Buoyant force
Buoyant force
Air
Liquid
In this case the object is immersed in two fluids one of which is the air. The diagram shows
only the total force exerted by these fluids on the object.
Consider an imaginary block composed of the two fluids 'displaced' by the object.
Displaced air
Displaced liquid
String
Force exerted by string
Water
Buoyant force
Weight
Figure 3.18 A submerged object in equilibrium
The force exerted by the string adjusts to balance the weight and the buoyant force.
Buoyant force
Air
Liquid Weight
POST-LECTURE
3-11 MOMENT OF INERTIA
The physical quantity which describes the distribution of matter about the axis of rotation is the
moment of inertia. Objects with their masses concentrated about the axis of rotation (or axle) have
smaller moments of inertia about that axis.
More precisely, if we divide the object up into small pieces each with mass Δm and at some
distance r from the axle, then the moment of inertia is
I = Σ Δm r 2
where the sum is taken over all the small pieces.
FE3: Equilibrium 37
Δm
Axle
r
For objects with a fixed axis of rotation, total torque about the axis equals moment of inertia
about the axis times angular acceleration. This is the reason why the wheel with the metal axle in the
lecture demonstration had the larger angular acceleration.
If the pull is applied near the top, the object will tip over instead of sliding along the table. Why?
Hint: to get the block moving, the force F must be greater than the maximum frictional force acting at
the bottom on the block. F cannot be any smaller than this. Now consider torques. What point is the
block going to rotate about?
How could you pull the block along the table without tipping it?
b) Pulling trees down with a tractor can be a dangerous occupation. Which of the methods shown
below is the less dangerous way to tie the rope to the tractor? Why?
In both cases the cone is in equilibrium because the total force is zero and the total torque is
zero. But the first case is stable, a slight displacement has no effect, while the second case is
unstable, a slight displacement causes the cone to tip over. When the cone is lying on its side it is
in neutral equilibrium.
Q3.6 What forces are acting and where are they acting in each case? What torques are responsible for restoring
the cone to its original position or otherwise?
Centre of Gravity
Q3.7 a ) Does the centre of gravity always lie within an object? If not, give examples.
b) Suggest a way of locating the centre of gravity of a "lumpy" object (not a flat object).
3-14 FLUIDS
Pressure
When a solid object is immersed in a fluid, the force exerted on the object by the fluid is distributed
over the contact surface. For a complete description we need to look at the force acting on each
small part of the surface. We can define the average pressure on a flat surface to be the component,
δFn , of the force perpendicular to the surface divided by the area, δA, of the surface. The limit of
this quotient as we take smaller and smaller pieces of the contact surface (and hence also smaller and
smaller forces) is the pressure, P, at a point on the surface:
δF
P = lim n . ... (3.2)
δA→0 δA
Provided that the body and the fluid are not moving, the force on each small part of the contact
surface is perpendicular to the surface (see figure 3.12) so the interaction can be described
completely in terms of pressure. (On the other hand, if there is relative motion between fluid and
solid object, the force has components parallel to the surface, not described by the pressure.)
This idea of pressure can be used also to describe what goes on inside the fluid; just imagine
the fluid divided into two parts as in the argument about buoyancy. Wherever we draw the fluid
boundary, we can define a pressure exerted by one part of the fluid on the other part. So we can say
that pressure exists within the fluid.
The following are important statements about pressure.
• Pressure is a scalar quantity - it has no direction.
• The pressure within a uniform stationary fluid is the same at all points in the same horizontal
plane.
• The SI unit of pressure is the pascal, symbol Pa; 1 Pa = 1 N.m-2 .
FE3: Equilibrium 39
Density
Pressure variations within a fluid are affected by its density. The density, ρ, of a uniform substance
is defined as the quotient: mass ÷ volume:
m
ρ = V . ... (3.3)
The barometer
S S'
b) The density of water is 1.00 × 103 kg.m-3. Estimate the height of the column of water in a water
barometer.
b) Explain what happens to the level of the water as the ice melts.
Q3.12 Steel is about eight times as dense as water. How can ships float?
Q3.13 The density of water varies with temperature as shown in the graph below. The curve has a maximum at
about 4°C.
1000
-3
Density/kg.m
999
998
997
996
995
0 10 20 30 40
Temperature/°C
Figure 3.25 How the density of water changes with temperature
a) When a beaker of water is heated from below, why does the warm water at the bottom rise?
b) When a lake ices over, why does freezing occur only at the top of the lake? Is there any biological
significance in that?
Interlude 3: Masses 41