STATICS (ME 111)

Spring 2021

Lecture 2

Chapter 2: Force Vectors

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Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
 Scalars and Vectors
All physical quantities in engineering mechanics are measured using either
scalars or vectors.

Scalar. A scalar is any positive or negative physical quantity that can be completely
specified by its magnitude (numerical value) .
Examples of scalar quantities include Mass, density, volume, temperature, time,
energy, area, speed and length.

Vector. A vector is any physical quantity that requires both a magnitude and a
direction for its complete description.
Force, moment, displacement, velocity, acceleration, impulse and momentum are
vector quantities

Representation:
Magnitude: length of the arrow
Direction: angle θ between the vector and a fixed
axis
The head or tip of the Sense of Direction: arrow
indicates the sense of direction of the vector
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 Types of Vectors
Free vector, Sliding vector or Fixed vector

A free vector is one whose action is not confined to

or associated with a unique line in space.
For example if a body is in translational motion,
velocity of any point in the body may be taken as a
vector and this vector will describe equally well the
velocity of every point in the body.

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 A sliding vector is one which has a unique line of action in
space but not a unique point of application.
When we deal with the external action of a force on a rigid
body, the force may be applied at any point along its line
of action without changing its effect on the body as a whole
and hence, considered as a sliding vector.

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 A fixed vector is one for which a unique point of
application is specified and therefore the vector
occupies a particular position in space.
The action of a force on a deformable body must be
specified by a fixed vector.

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 Principle of Transmissibility:
The external effect of a force on a rigid body will
remain unchanged if the force is moved to act
on its line of action.
In other words, a force may be applied at any
point on its given line of action without altering
the resultant external effects on the rigid body
on which it acts.

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 Free-body Diagram (FBD)
To analyze forces acting on a body, it is essential that
we isolate the body in question from all other bodies
so that a complete and accurate account of all forces
acting on this body can be taken.
The diagram of such an isolated body with the
representation of all external forces acting on it is
called a free-body diagram.

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 Free Body Diagram (FBD)

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 Force Vectors
Force Systems
Force: force is considered as a “push” or “pull” exerted by one body on
another.
A force is completely characterized by its magnitude, direction, and point of
application.

Classification of Forces:
I. Contact forces
II. body forces

Contact force is the force in which an object comes in contact with

another object.
Pushing a car up a hill or kicking a ball or pushing a desk across a room
friction, normal force, and tension, Spring Force
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 Body force
 A body force is a force that acts throughout the volume of a
body
 A body force is generated when a body is located within a force
field such as a gravitational, electric or magnetic field.
 Weight, gravity, electric forces, magnetic forces, centrifugal
forces etc.

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 Concentrated and Distributed Forces

Concentrated force is a force applied on a single point

A distributed force is any force where the point of application of the force is
an area or a volume

On Area  Surface force

On Volume  Body Force

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  Vectors Definition

 Types of Vectors

Vectors Operations

1- Multiplication and Division of a Vector by a Scalar

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 Vector Addition.
Parallelogram law of addition

using the triangle rule (head-to-tail rule)

Special Case, if the two vectors A and B are collinear

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 Vector Subtraction

Vector addition of forces

Two common problems in statics

 Finding the resultant force, knowing its components,

 Resolving a known force into two components.

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1- Finding a Resultant Force

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 2- Resolving a known force into two components

1- Addition of Several Forces

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 Trigonometry
To determine resultant force or direction of the
resultant force
Any unknown in the force triangle or parallelogram

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 Example 2.1

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 Problem 2-4
The vertical force acts downward at on the two-membered
frame. Determine the magnitudes of the two components of F
directed along the axes of AB and AC. Set F = 500 N.

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 Problem 2-11
The plate is subjected to the two forces at A and B as shown.
If ,determine the magnitude of the resultant of these two
forces and its direction measured clockwise from the
horizontal.

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 Problem Sheet
2-3; 2-9; 2-13; 2-18; 2-19; 2-21; 2-25

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