Lecture 2

Tutor: Kezang Yuden

Assistant lecturer
Civil Engineering Department 3 time
 Mechanics

• Force
• Newton’s law of motion
• Principle of transmissibility
• Force system
• Resultant and equillibrant
 Mechanics

• On the basis of type of body

- Rigid Body
- Deformable body
- Fluid body
Concept of force:
• A force is a push or pull upon an object
resulting from the object’s interaction with
another object.
• It is a vector quantity (having both
magnitude & direction).
• The unit of force is newton (N).
 Characteristics of a force:

It may be noted that a force is completely specified only

when the following four characteristics are specified;
i. Magnitude
ii. Direction
iii. Point of application
iv. Line of action and
Characteristics of a force:
Physical Quantity
- The quantity that is measurable.
Units of force
SI Unit – newton (N)
MKS Unit – Kgf
CGS Unit - Dyne
Newton's second law of motion
Newton's third law of motion
Newton's law of gravitation

1 - 38
 Law of transmissibility of forces:

The state of rest or motion of a body is unaltered if a force acting

on a body is replaced by another force of the same magnitude
and direction but acting anywhere on the body along the line of
action of the replaced force.
** Law of transmissibility can only be applied if the body is
treated as rigid body.
 Principle of transmissibility

F =

F’

F and F’ have the same effect if their magnitude , direction and

line of action are the same. Based on experimental evidence.
 Principle of transmissibility
Conditions of motion are unaffected. F and F’ are equivalent

F = F’

W W
R1 R2 R1 R2
 System of forces:

“A force system is a collection of forces acting at specified

locations. Thus the set of forces shown on any free body diagram
make up a force system. Force system is simply a term used to
describe a group of forces.”
Or
When several forces act on a body, then they are called a force
system or a system of forces
Coplanar forces- Coplanar forces means the forces in
a plane Or a system in which all the forces lie in the
same plane.

Coplanar Collinear forces - Collinear forces are those forces which have a
common line of action, i.e. the line of action of the forces lie along a single
straight line whether they are push or pull in nature.
Examples: two people standing at the opposite ends of a rope and pulling on it.
Coplanar Parallel forces- Parallel forces are those forces
which are in the same plane but never intersect by each
other and they may be same or opposite in direction.
Example: beam subjected to vertical loads.

Coplanar Concurrent Forces- Line of action of all

forces pass through a single point and forces lie in the
same plane.
Example: the hub of a ceiling fan
Coplanar Non-Concurrent Forces- All forces do not meet at a point but
lie in a single plane.
Example: Forces on a ladder resting against a wall and a person resting on it.
Non-coplanar forces -Non-coplanar forces
are those forces which are not acting from a
same plane.

Non-coplanar parallel forces- Non-coplanar Parallel

forces are those forces which are not in the same plane
and never intersect by each other, they may be same
or opposite in direction.
Example: weight of benches in a classroom
Non-coplanar concurrent forces- Non- Coplanar
concurrent forces are those forces which are acting
at a same point but not from a same plane, also
they may be pull or push in nature.
Example: tripod carrying a camera

Non coplanar non-concurrent forces- Non-

Coplanar non-concurrent forces are those forces
which are not acting at a same point and not at a same
plane, also they may be pull or push in nature.
Example: Forces acting on a moving bus.
 Resultant Force ( R )
• Definition :
A single force that have same effect on the body as that of
all the forces acting on the same body in a coplanar concurrent force
system is called a Resultant Force.

- Process of finding the resultant forces is called the composition of

forces.
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Statics
 Equilibrium of a system of coplanar
concurrent forces.

• A body is said to be in equilibrium if the state of rest or of uniform

motion in a straight line is not altered. It means no resultant force acts
on the body.
 Types of forces acting on a body
1. Applied forces
2. Non-applied Forces
a) Self weight
b) reactions
 Free Body Diagram
• For the analysis of equilibrium condition, it is necessary to isolate the body under
consideration from the other bodies in contact and draw all forces acting on the body.

• For this, first the body is drawn and then all applied forces, self weight and reactions
from the other bodies in contact are drawn.

• Such diagram of the body in which the body under consideration is freed from all the
contact surfaces and is shown with all the forces on it including the self weight and
reactions from the contact surfaces is called the FREE BODY DIAGRAM (FBD)
 Question

Q1. Two forces of 100 N and 150 N are acting simultaneously at a point.
What is the resultant of these two forces, if the angle between them is
45°?

Q2. Two forces act at an angle of 120°. The bigger force is of 40 N and
the resultant is perpendicular to the smaller one. Find the smaller force.

Q 3. Find the magnitude of the two forces, such that if they act at right
angles, their resultant is 10 N . But if they Act at 60°, their resultant is
13 N .
 Question

Q 4. The resultant of two forces, one of which is double the other is 260
N. If the direction of the larger force is reversed and other remains
unaltered, the resultant reduces to 180 N. Determine the magnitude of
the forces and the angle between the forces.
 Triangle law of forces:
• Referring to Fig, it can be observed that the resultant AD may be obtained by
constructing the triangle ABD. Line AB is drawn to represent F1 and BD to represent
F2. Then AD should represent the resultant of F1 and F2. Thus we have derived the
triangle law of forces from the fundamental law of parallelogram.

• The Triangle Law of Forces (vectors) may be stated as if two forces (vectors) acting on
a body are represented one after another by the sides of a triangle, their resultant is
represented by the closing side of the triangle taken from the first point to the last
point.
 Polygon law of forces:
Polygon law of forces is applied for finding the resultant of a number of coplanar forces
acting at a point. It is a graphical method. It states that if a number of forces acting
simultaneously on a particle are represented in magnitude and direction by the side of a
polygon taken in order, then their resultant is represented in magnitude and direction by
the closing side of polygon taken in opposite order.
Q 5.