Prepared by : POLICARPIO V.

BULANAN
Faculty: Department of Engineering Sciences
e-mail : p_bulanan@clsu.edu.ph
Module 1
Topic : Introduction to forces, its effects on rigid bodies at rest, resultant of
forces,determination of reactions and moments.
OVERVIEW
This module in ppt.doc is prepared to serve as a teaching guide/learning
material to students enrolled in “Statics of Rigid Bodies”. The module begins with
basic definition of terms, units of measurement , fundamental applications in
everyday life activities, fundamental equations to solve basic to more complicated
eng’g. problems, and eventually designing simple static structure to demonstrate
the characteristic of rigid structures.
Objectives : At the end of the topic, students are expected to be able to :
Explain the various definitions in the study of statics of rigid bodies at rest
(a)

Determine the components and resultant of various forces on bodies at rest

(b)

Define equilibrium of different force systems and apply equations of static

(c)

equilibrium to rigid bodies at rest.

 Mechanics of Materials
I. PRELIMINARIES
1.1 Catalogue No.: ENGR 2312

1.2 Course Title: Mechanics of Rigid Bodies (Statics)

1.3 Course Description: The course deals with Fundamental Principles of

Engineering Mechanics, Mechanics of rigid bodies(bodies @ rest), Newton’s
laws of motion, study of forces, its distribution and effects accompanying its
application on rigid bodies. Resultant and equilibrium of force systems,
Analysis of structures, Frictions(static & kinetic), Centroids and Moment of
Inertia, Parabolic & catenary cables, rectilinear motion, laws of motion&
Curvilinear motion.

1.4 Prerequisite: MATH 221 and PHYSICS 105

Class: 5 hours per week (lecture)
Credit: 5 units
 Mechanics of Rigid
Bodies(Statics)
1.5 Requirements: Term and final exams, quizzes, assignments, problem
set/seatwork, class participation, recitation

1.6 EVALUATION AND GRADING

Course Grade Equivalent
Term Assignment Quizzes Term Total
Exam
1st Term 5% 10 % 15 % 30%
2nd Term 5% 10 % 15 % 30%
Final 5% 10 % 20 % 35%
An incentive of 5 % …………. (for a total of 100 %) to be given to
students who will be able to submit all requirements on time.

All Quizzes that will be given throughout the semester shall be announced. This
is to give students enough time to prepare/study.
Division of Mechanics
 Statics
Mechanics is the science which treats of motion, forces and the effects
of forces on the bodies upon which they act.
It may also be defined as that science which describes and predicts
the condition of rest or motion of bodies under the action of forces. A
force can simply be a simple push or pull.
Statics- is that branch of Mechanics which deals with the forces and
with the effects of forces upon rigid bodies at rest. In statics, all
bodies are assumed ideally rigid, i.e. no deformation in size, shape,
length, etc.
Dynamics- deals with the motion of bodies and forces
causing the motion.
Divisions of Dynamics :
(a)kinetics-Study of motion without consideration to forces causing
motion, e.g. velocity, distance, acceleration, etc
(b) Kinematics – study of motion as well as the effects of forces causing
the motion of rigid body
 Illustration of a Body under equilibrium

In the figure, there are four forces acting on the concurrence,

(intersection) let’s say the common point of intersection. For as long
as the resultant of these forces is zero, this body will remain in
equilibrium or static. However, on the right side, if there is a net
resultant, the body will move in the direction of the resultant and the
motion is proportional to the magnitude of this resultant.
Examples of static bodies

CABLES

TRUSS(Roof/Bridge)
 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF STATICS
Definition of Terms
Force- is an action which changes or tends to change the state of motion
of the body upon which it acts. A force is completely defined when the
magnitude, sense and direction are known. It is normally denoted by an
arrow.

Magnitude- is the amount, quantity or intensity of a force which is

represented in terms of vectors. Vectors are mathematical expression
possessing magnitude, direction which add according to the parallelogram
law. Magnitude is denoted by the length of an arrow, i.e, long arrow, large
force, shorter arrow, lower magnitude)
Direction- is the direction of the line along which it acts and may be
expressed as vertical, horizontal, or at some angle with the vertical or
horizontal.
Point of application- is the point of contact between two bodies or
the point where the force acts in the body.
Sense- is the way its acts along its line of action upward, downward
to the right or left and its generally denoted by an arrowhead.
 BASIC PRINCIPLES OF STATICS
PRINCIPLE OF TRANSMISIBILITY
This states that the state of equilibrium or motion of a
rigid body will remain unchanged if a force acting at a point
of a rigid body is replaced by a force of the same magnitude
and the same direction but acting at a different point,
provided that the two forces have the same line of action.
Simple example is when you want to move a block forward.
You can either push it or pull it forward.
P

F B F
o

A
P o
 Useful tool in statics
problem
The principle of transmissibility is
one of the most important
principle that can be used to
solve problems in statics.
As seen in the fig.(right), if you
have a body acted by an external
force P applied at point A, that
force can be replaced by the
same force or vector, applied at
different point but along the line
of action of the original force.
That is, same magnitude, same
line of action and same effect on
the body upon which it acts.
Examples : FiFigure: Courtesy of Maththalino.com
(a) When you want to move a
piece of block forward… you can
push it at the back.. Or you can
pull it at the front.
 Illustration of a Force
Two men pulling a rope
A Force can simply be a push
against one another
or a Pull
• In the figure, the force
exerted by each man
on the rope(orange
and blue) are equal in
magnitude and
oppositely directed,
resulting in
equilibrium. Note that
both forces are in
tension.
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF STATICS
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF STATICS
 Basic Terms
● Essential basic terms to be understood
– Statics: dealing with the equilibrium of a rigid-body at
rest
– Rigid body: the relative movement between its parts
are negligible (No Deformation)
– Dynamics: dealing with a rigid-body in motion
– Length: applied to the linear dimension of a straight
line or curved line of a member of a body.
– Area: the two dimensional size of shape or surface. It
is either expressed in sq. in, sq. ft, sq m, etc
Basic Terms
Volume: the three dimensional size of the space
occupied by substance. For a regular polygon…e.g.
rectangular box, volume is V = l x w x h
Force: the action of one body on another whether it’s a
push or a pull force
Mass: the amount of matter in a body
Weight: the force with which a body is attracted toward
the center of the Earth
Particle: a body of negligible dimension
Units of Measurement
● Two different systems of units we dealing with
during the course
– U.S. Customary or British System of Units (FPS)
● Mass in Slug
● Length in feet (ft)
● Time in Seconds (s)
● Force in Pounds (lb)
– International System of Units or Metric Units (SI)
● Mass in kilogram (kg)
● Length in metre (m)
● Time in Seconds (s)
● Force in Newton (N)
 Units of Measurement
●Summery of the four fundamental quantities in the two
system

SI Units US Units
Quantity
Unit Symbol Unit Symbol

Mass kilogram kg slug -

Length meter m foot ft

Time second s second sec

Force newton N pound lb

17 Lecture 1 Engineering Mechanics – Statics

 Units of Measurement
● Metric System (SI)
– SI System offers major advantages relative to the FPS
systemWidely used throughout the world
● Use one basic unit for length ☞ meter; while FPS uses
many basic units ☞ inch, foot, yard, mile
● SI based on multiples of 10, which makes it easier to use
& learn whereas FPS is complicated, for example
– SI system 1 meter = 100 centimeters, 1 kilometer = 1000
meters, etc
– FPS system 1 foot = 12 inches, 1 yard = 3 feet, 1 mile =
5280 feet, etc
Units of Measurement

● Metric System (SI)

– Newton’s second law F = m.a
● Thus the force (N) = mass (kg) acceleration (m/s2)

– Therefore 1 Newton is the force required to give a

mass of 1 kg an acceleration of 1 m/s2
 Units of Measurement

● U.S. Customary System (FPS)

– Force (lb) = mass (slugs) acceleration (ft/sec2 )
● Thus (slugs) = lb.sec2/ft
– Therefore 1 slug is the mass which is given an
acceleration of 1 ft/sec2 when acted upon by a
force of 1 lb
Conversion of Units
– Converting from one system of unit to another;

Quantity FPS Equals SI

Force 1 lb 4.448 N
Mass 1 slug 14.593 kg
Length 1 ft 0.304 m

●Thestandard value of g (gravitational

acceleration)
– SI units g = 9.806 m/s2
– FPS units g = 32.174 ft/sec2
 COMPONENTS OF A FORCE
A single force F may be replaced by two or more forces
which will have the same effect as the force they replaced.
These forces are called the components of the given force
and the process of finding these forces is called the
resolution of forces.

By trigonometry
Fx = Fcosθ
θ Fy = Fsinθ
 Seatwork
● Find the x and y component of the given
forces. Ref

200 N
θ = 35o

300 N

a) 6m

Fff 8m

b)
COMPONENTS OF A FORCE

Fy
c2 = a2+b2
F

b2 = c2-a2
c a

2 2 2
b
Fx
a = c -b
COMPONENTS OF A FORCE

B
A c
B CC c
a

A B
a b c Ɵ θ
b
Both the cosine Law and the sine law can be used to solve the resultant of
two or more forces and also equilibrium problems. The key is to be able to
draw a free body diagram correctly’
APPLICATION of COSINE LAW

LOAD DIAGRAM FORCE POLYGON METHOD

• TO USE THE FORCE POLYGON, SELECT ONE
VECTOR(FORCE) AND CONNECT THE TAIL OF
THE 2ND TO THE TIP OF THE FIRST. THE
RESULTANT IS THE ORIGIN OF THE 1ST FORCE
AND THE TIP OF THE LAST VECTOR(FORCE).
The yellow vector is the resultant of forces A
and B.

R
 APPLICATION OF SINE LAW
(THE SINE LAW IS USED WHEN THE SYSTEM IS IN EQUILIBRIUM. IT IS TYPICALLY USED WHEN THERE
ARE THREE VECTORS(FORCES) INVOLVED.

• FORCE POLYGON(WHEN THE

SYSTEM IS IN EQUILIBRIUM, THE VECTORS WILL FORM
A CLOSED POLYGON, AS SHOWN IN THE FIGURE). THE
THREE VECTORS REPRESENTS THE WEIGHT(BLUE) AND
THE TWO CABLES SUPPORTING THE WEIGHT.

AD

AC

WWw
 COMPONENTS OF A FORCE

A force of 800N is exerted on a bolt A as shown in the figure. Determine the

vertical and horizontal components of the force.

Solution:
Fx=-800cos35˚
=-655.32 N

Fy=800sin35˚
=458.86 N
 COMPONENTS OF A FORCE

A man pulls a force of 300N on a rope attached to a building. What are the
vertical and horizontal components of the force exerted by the rope at point A.

Solution:
Fx=300 (8÷10)
=240N

Fy=-300 (6÷10)
=-180 N
 RESULTANT OF FORCES
It has been seen that a single force may be replaced by component forces
which will have the same effect as the force they replace. Conversely, two or
more forces may also be replace by a single force which will have the same
effect as the forces it replaced.

Parallelogram law
The resultant of two concurrent forces is the diagonal of the parallelogram whose
initial sides are the vectors of these forces. The diagonal emanates from the
intersection of the initial sides.

Triangle method
The resultant of two forces is that vector placed on a tip to tip fashion
RESULTANT OF FORCES
 RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCES

RESULTANT OF COPLANAR FORCE SYSTEM

Coplanar forces lie in one plane.
A concurrent system consists of forces which intersect at a common point
called concurrence.
A parallel system consists of forces which intersect at infinity.

CONCURRENT SYSTEM
(a)The resultant of a concurrent force system R may be
A single force through the concurrence
(b)Zero
© a couple causing either a clockwise or counter-clockwise tendency
 Illustration: Resultant of Concurrent Forces

In this figure, we will use the Method of components to solve the

resultant. That is by using the algebraic sum of the components
along the x and y axis as shown in the right figure… where
Rx = €Fx1 + €Fx2 +….€Fxn : Also Ry = €Fy1 + €Fy2 + ..€Fyn
 RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCES

If θ = 30⁰ and T = 6kN, determine the magnitude of

the resultant force acting on the eyebolt and its
direction measured clockwise from the positive x axis.
Application of •To demonstrate :
cosine Law • Draw vector 8KN, with its magnitude &
direction
In the use of this law, the
resultant of two or more • On the tip of 8KN, draw the T
vectors can be computed vector(with Ɵ = 30)
by trigonometry. If there is • The resultant is the origin of the 8KN
a resultant, the resultant and the tip of vector T.
polygon that will be
formed in combining the
vectors will not be a
closed polygon. The
Resultant is simple the 88KN 45⁰ 30⁰
6KN
origin of the first vector 45⁰

and the tip of the last.

RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCES
RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCES

If the magnitude of the resultant force is to be 9 kN

directed along the positive x axis, determine the
magnitude of force T acting on the eyebolt and its
angle θ.
RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCES
RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCES
Example Determine the resultant of the concurrent force system shown:
RESULTANT OF CONCURRENT FORCES
Example The 100lb resultant of the four forces together with the three of those
four forces is shown. Determine the missing fourth force to give the resultant.

Let; Fx = horizontal component of the missing force

Let; Fy = vertical component of the missing force

Solution:

100 cos 30 = 50 (4/√17) – 70 sin 30 – 120 cos 60 + Fx

Fx = 133.1 lb

100 sin 30 = 70 cos 30 - 120 sin 60 - 50(1/√17) + Fy

Fy = 105.43 lb

F = √ (Fx2 +Fy2) Ѳ = tan -1 105/133

F = 169.81 lb Ѳ = 38.29°
Seatwork #2
• The plate is subjected to the two forces at A and B as
shown. If θ is 60o , determine the magnitude of the
resultant of these two forces and its direction measured
clockwise from the horizontal using parallelogram and
force triangle method .

• Determine the resultants of the concurrent force system

shown below:

a b
 Moment Of Forces
Moment is the measure of the capacity or ability of the
force to produce twisting of a body or turning effect about an
axis. This axis is perpendicular to the plane containing the line
of action of the force. The magnitude of moment is equal to the
product of the force and the perpendicular distance from the
axis to the line of action of the force.
There are many activities that we do everyday that involves
moment. Here are examples:
(a)When you change your flat tire by using a tire wrench
(b) When you use a screw driver to drive a screw
© When you get water from your water pump
* In all these examples, you’ll notice that when you use longer
arm/handle, you just need a lesser force to accomplish the task.
 MOMENT OF A FORCE
The moment of a force is its tendency to produce rotation of the body upon
which it acts about any axis.
The measure of the moment is the product of the force magnitude and the
perpendicular distance (moment arm) between the axis of rotation and line of
action of the applied force.

F
Moment Arm (d)

M = F(d)

Axis of rotation
Cw rotation
 MOMENT OF A FORCE
Find the x and y components of the load and the moment at point A

)
 MOMENT OF A FORCE

A 100 lb vertical force P is applied at the end of the lever which is attached to the
shaft at O. Determine:
•a. Moment of the 100 lb. force about O.
•b. Magnitude of the horizontal force applied at A which creates the same moment
at O.
•c. Smallest force applied at A which creates the same moment at 0.
MOMENT OF A FORCE

Fh

Notice that the

Fs min. applied
force at A can be
achieved if the
applied force is
perpendicular to
the lever arm
Example 2.
Two forces P and Q pass through a point A which is 4 m to the right
of and 3 m above a moment center O. Force P is 890 N directed up to
the right at 30° with the horizontal and force Q is 445 N directed up
to the left at 60° with the horizontal. Determine the moment of the
resultant of these two forces with respect to O.

Hint: Take €M @ o.
€Mo=clockwise moment –
counter-clockwise
moments
Resultant of Parallel Force System

Coplanar Parallel Force System

Parallel forces are forces which can be in the
same or in opposite directions, they are either
upward, downward or inclined system of forces that
will never intersect. The sign of the direction can be
chosen arbitrarily, meaning, taking one direction as
positive and makes the opposite direction negative.
Example of parallel force system are the columns
and the beam connecting the various columns of a
structure.
TYPES OF LOAD

rR
R = Wo *L R = ½(Wo*L)
 RESULTANT OF PARALLEL FORCES

Ex. Determine the resultant and its location for the system of parallel forces shown.

Replace each distributed load by their equivalent concentrated load

R1 = ½ LW R2 = LW R3 = ½ LW
= ½ (10)(30) = (20) (30) = ½ (15) (30)
R1 =150 KN R2 = 600KN R3 = 225KN
 RESULTANT OF PARALLEL FORCES

Apply summation of forces and of moment to determine the resultant and its
location.

R=∑F Rx = ∑MR1R2R3
= 150 + 225 +600 = 150[10(2/3)] + [600(20)] + [225(35)]
R = 975 KN x = 150[10(2/3)] + [600(20)] + [225(35)]
975
X = 21.4 m.
Nonconcurrent, nonparallel force systems

Nonconcurrent, non-parallel forces are those

system of forces where there is no single point of
concurrence. If you extend the line of action of the
forces, you will notice that two or more forces will
intersect but never all the forces.
Examples of nonconcurrent, nonparallel

LEVLERS
RESULTANT OF FORCES
 RESULTANT OF NON-CUNCCURENT
NON-PARALLEL FORCES

Determine the magnitude of the resultant force and what point will the resultant
bisect AH.(Inclined loads are perpendicular to inclined members)
Solution.
 RESULTANT OF NON-CUNCCURENT
NON-PARALLEL FORCES

Solution:
Fx = Rx + Qx Fy = -10 – 5 -20 cos 30 – 10 cos 30
= 10 sin 30 + 20 sin 30 Fy = -40.98 kN
= 30 sin 30
Fx = 15 kN

R = 43.64 kN θ = tan-140.98/15 = 69.89o

ƩMA = R(d) = 10(10)+5(5)+(20)(5)/cos30 By sine Law

= 43.64(d) = 100 + 25 +115.47 sin 69.89 = d/x
d = 5.51 m x = d/ sin 69.89 = 5.51 / sin 69.89
X = 5.87 m (from A)
 Seat work #1

1. Replace the distributed loading with an

equivalent resultant force, and specify its
location on the beam measured from point
A.

2. Determine the magnitude and location of

the resultant force from A, for the truss
loaded as shown in the figure.
▪ REFERENCES :
BESAVILLA, Venancio S. Engineering Mechanics 3rd
Ed., National Bookstore, 1986 Manila

De Beers, Ferdinand. Engineering Mechanics

(Statics and Dynamics) 5th Ed. Mc Graw Hill and Co,
New York
https://www.phyley.com/find-resultant-forc
e

https://mypages.iit.edu/~krawczyk/phdsza/
02conc.htm