MECH1301/MEC1391

Statics
Chapter 1
General Principles
Prepared by Hanan Mokhtar

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 1

 Chapter Outline
1. Mechanics
2. Fundamental Concepts
3. Units of Measurement
4. The International System of Units
5. Numerical Calculations
6. General Procedure for Analysis

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 2

MECHANICS, UNITS, NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS & GENERAL PROCEDURE
FOR ANALYSIS

Today’s Objectives:
Students will be able to:
a) Explain mechanics / statics. In-Class activities:
b) Work with two types of units. • Reading Quiz
c) Round the final answer appropriately. • What Is Mechanics?
d) Apply problem-solving strategies. • System of Units
• Numerical Calculations
• Concept Quiz
• Problem-Solving Strategy
• Attention Quiz
 READING QUIZ

1. The subject of mechanics deals with what happens to a body

when ______ is / are applied to it.
A) a magnetic field B) heat C) forces
D) neutrons E) lasers

2. ________________ still remains the basis of most of today’s

engineering sciences.
A) Newtonian Mechanics B) Relativistic Mechanics
C) Greek Mechanics C) Euclidean Mechanics
 WHAT IS MECHANICS?
Study of what happens to a “thing” (the technical name is
“BODY”) when FORCES are applied to it.

Either the body or the forces can be large or small.

 1.1 Mechanics
• Mechanics is the science which describes and predicts the
conditions of rest or motion of bodies under the action of
forces.

• Mechanics can be divided into 3 branches:

- Rigid-body Mechanics
- Deformable-body Mechanics Mechanics is the
foundation of most
- Fluid Mechanics
engineering sciences
and is an
• Rigid-body Mechanics deals with indispensable
(Things that do not change shape) prerequisite to their
- Statics study.
- Dynamics

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 6

BRANCHES OF
MECHANICS
 1.1 Mechanics
• Statics – Equilibrium of bodies
At rest
Move with constant velocity

• Dynamics – Accelerated motion of

bodies

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 8

1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Basic Quantities
1. Length
- locate the position of a point in space
2. Mass
- measure of a quantity of matter
3. Time
- succession of events
4. Force
- a “push” or “pull” exerted by one body on
another

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 9

1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Idealisations
1. Particles
- has a mass and size can be neglected

2. Rigid Body
- a combination of a large number of
particles

3. Concentrated Force
- the effect of a loading

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 10

 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
• First Law
“A particle originally at rest, or moving in a
straight line with constant velocity, will remain in
this state provided that the particle is not
subjected to an unbalanced force”

Sum of forces = 0
Because everything
is Static/at
rest/at constant
velocity

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 11

 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
• Second Law
“A particle acted upon by an unbalanced force F
experiences an acceleration a that has the same
direction as the force and a magnitude that is
directly proportional to the force”

F  ma

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 12

 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Three Laws of Motion
• Third Law
“The mutual forces of action and reaction
between two particles are equal and, opposite
and collinear”
For every
action, there
is an equal and
opposite
reaction

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 13

 1.2 Fundamentals Concepts
Newton’s Law of Gravitational Attraction
m1 m 2
F G 2
r
F = force of gravitation between two particles
G = universal constant of gravitation
m1,m2 = mass of each of the two particles
r = distance between the two particles

Weight: W G 2
mM e
r
Two particles are attracted
Letting W  mg yields with equal and opposite
forces
g  GM e / r 2
Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 14
 1.3 Units of Measurement
SI Units
• Stands for Système International d’Unités
• Eg. F = ma is maintained only if
– 3 of the units, called base units, are defined
– 4th unit is derived from the equation
• SI system specifies length in meters (m), time in
seconds (s) and mass in kilograms (kg)
• Force unit, Newton (N), is derived from F = ma

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 15

 UNITS OF MEASUREMENT
(Section 1.3)
Four fundamental physical quantities (or dimensions).
• Length
• Mass
• Time
• Force

Newton’s 2nd Law relates them: F = m * a

We use this equation to develop systems of units.
Units are arbitrary names we give to the physical quantities.
 UNIT SYSTEMS
Force, mass, time and acceleration are related by Newton’s
2nd law. Three of these are assigned units (called base units)
and the fourth unit is derived. Which one is derived varies by
the system of units.

We will work with two unit systems in statics:

• International System (SI)
• U.S. Customary (USCS)
Table 1-1 in the textbook
summarizes these unit
systems.
 1.3 Units of Measurement
• At the standard location,
g = 9.806 65 m/s2
• For calculations, we use
g = 9.81 m/s2
• Thus,
W = mg (g = 9.81m/s2)
• Hence, a body of mass 1 kg has a weight of 9.81 N,
a 2 kg body weighs 19.62 N

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 19

 THE INTERNATIONAL SYSTEM OF UNITS
(Section 1.4)

• No plurals (e.g., m = 5 kg, not kgs )

• Separate units with a • (e.g., meter second = m • s )

• Most symbols are in lowercase.

• Some exceptions are N, Pa, M, and G.
• Exponential powers apply to units, e.g., cm • cm = cm2
• Compound prefixes should not be used.
• Table 1-3 in the textbook shows prefixes used in the SI
system
1.4 The International System
of Units
Prefixes
• For a very large or small numerical quantity, units
can be modified by using a prefix

• Each represent a multiple or sub-multiple of a unit

Eg: 4,000,000 N = 4000 kN (kilo-newton)
= 4 MN (mega- newton)
0.005m = 5 mm (milli-meter)

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 21

1.4 The International System
of Units

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 22

 1.5 Numerical Calculations
Dimensional Homogeneity
• Each term must be expressed in the same units
• Regardless of how the equation is evaluated, it
maintains its dimensional homogeneity
• All terms can be replaced by a consistent set of
units

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 23

 1.5 Numerical Calculations
Significant Figures
• Accuracy of a number is specified by the number
of significant figures it contains
• A significant figure is any digit including zero
e.g. 5604 and 34.52 have four significant numbers
• When numbers begin or end with zero, we make use
of prefixes to clarify the number of significant
figures
e.g. 400 as one significant figure would be 0.4(103)

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 24

 1.5 Numerical Calculations
Rounding Off Numbers
• Accuracy obtained would never be better than the
accuracy of the problem data
• Calculators or computers involve more figures in the
answer than the number of significant figures in the
data
• Calculated results should always be “rounded off” to
an appropriate number of significant figures
3 significant figures

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 25

 1.5 Numerical Calculations
Calculations
• Retain a greater number of digits for accuracy
• Work out computations so that numbers that are
approximately equal
• Round off final answers to three significant figures

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 26

 NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS
(Section 1.5)

Must have dimensional “homogeneity.”

Dimensions have to be the same on both
sides of the equal sign, (e.g., distance =
speed  time.)
Use an appropriate number of significant figures (3 for
answer, at least 4 for intermediate calculations). Why?
Be consistent when rounding off.
- greater than 5, round up (3528  3530)
- smaller than 5, round down (0.03521  0.0352)
- equal to 5, see your textbook for an explanation.
 CONCEPT QUIZ

1. Evaluate the situation in which mass (kg), force (N), and length (m)
are the base units and recommend one of the following.
A) A new system of units will have to be formulated.
B) Only the unit of time have to be changed from second to
something else.
C) No changes are required.
D) The above situation is not feasible.
 CONCEPT QUIZ (continued)

2. Give the most appropriate reason for using three significant figures
in reporting results of typical engineering calculations.
A) Historically slide rules could not handle more than three
significant figures.
B) Three significant figures gives better than one-percent
accuracy.
C) Telephone systems designed by engineers have area codes
consisting of three figures.
D) Most of the original data used in engineering calculations do
not have accuracy better than one percent.
 PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGY
IPE: A 3-Step Approach
1. Interpret: Read carefully and determine what is given and what
is to be found/delivered. Ask, if not clear. If
necessary, make assumptions and indicate them.

2. Plan: Think about major steps (or a road map) that you will take to
solve a given problem. Think of alternative/creative
solutions and choose the best one.

3. Execute: Carry out your steps. Use appropriate diagrams and

equations. Estimate your answers. Avoid simple
calculation mistakes. Reflect on and then revise your
work, if necessary.
 1.6 General Procedure for
Analysis
To solve problems, it is important to present work in a logical
and orderly way as suggested:
1. Correlate actual physical situation with theory
2. Draw any diagrams and tabulate the problem data
3. Apply principles in mathematical forms
4. Solve equations which are
dimensionally homogenous
5. Report the answer with
significance figures
6. Technical judgment
and common sense

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 31

 ATTENTION QUIZ

1. For a static’s problem your calculations show the final answer as

12345.6 N. What will you write as your final answer?
A) 12345.6 N B) 12.3456 kN C) 12 kN
D) 12.3 kN E) 123 kN

2. In the three-step approach to problem solving called IPE, what

does P stand for?
A) Position B) Plan C) Problem
D) Practical E) Possible
 Example
Convert to 2 km/h to m/s.

Solution
2 km  1000 m  1 h 
2 km/h      0.556 m/s
h  km  3600 s 
Remember to round off the final answer to three significant figures.

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 33

#Quiz1 at the beginning
of the next class
#Tutorial will start next
week?

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 34

End of Chapter 1

Week 1 - Lecture 2 (Chapter 1) 35