MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I Lecture: 2

ENGINEERING MECHANICS I
MEE 105

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

Last Class

• Fundamental Principle: The basis of all solutions to mechanics

problems are the Newton's Laws of Motion in one form or the
other.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

CONTINUUM MECHANICS

Continuum mechanics is concerned with motion and

deformation of material objects, called bodies, under the action
of forces.
If these objects are solid bodies, the respective subject area is
termed solid mechanics, if they are fluids, it is fluid mechanics.

The mechanical behaviour of materials is determined by the interaction

of the elementary constituents. However, an engineering modelling
cannot be done at this level and length scale.

The discretely structured matter is represented by the continuum, by

averaging its properties in space and neglecting any discontinuities
and gaps.

By a continuum, we mean the hypothetical object in which the

matter is continuously distributed over the entire object
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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

CONTINUUM HYPOTHESIS

Albert Einstein has given the following explanation of continuum

“The surface of a marble table is spread out in front of me. I can

get from any one point on this table to any other point by passing
continuously from one point to a “neighboring" one, and
repeating this process a (large) number of times, or, in other
words, by going from point to point without executing “jumps".

I am sure the reader will appreciate with sufficient clearness what

I mean here by “neighboring" and by “jumps" (if he is not too
pedantic!). We express this property of the surface by describing
the latter as a continuum.”

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

CONTINUUM MECHANICS

• The governing equations comprise of Material Independent

Principles (Universal)
 Kinematics: purely geometrical description of motion and
deformation of material bodies;
 Kinetics: addresses forces as external actions and stresses as
internal reactions;
 Balance Laws or Conservation Laws: for conservation of mass,
momentum and energy;

• All these laws & equations are valid for all material bodies and are
thus labelled universal.

• Material dependent laws

 Constitutive equations: These equations describe the individual
behaviour of different materials.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

Fundamental Principles

In his "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia

Mathematica" of 1687, Isaac Newton
established laws of motion und thus
was the first relating kinematical and
dynamic quantities.

 The basis of all solutions to mechanics

problems are the Newton's Laws of
Motion in one form or the other.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

NEWTON’S LAW OF MOTION

1. First law: A body does not change its state of motion unless
acted upon by a force.
 This law is based on observations, and it also defines an inertial
frame .

2. Second law:
F = ma

 In Statics, we consider only equilibrium situations. So, we will

not be looking at

F = ma,

 In Dynamics, we will apply

F = ma, extensively.
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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

NEWTON’S LAW OF MOTION

3. Third Law: Newton's third law states that if a body A applies a

force F on body B , then B also applies an equal and opposite force
on A . (Forces do not cancel other as they are acting on two different
objects)

 We will use this law a lot both in statics as well as in dynamics.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

NEWTON’S LAW OF GRAVITATION

• Two particles of mass M and m are mutually attracted with
equal and opposite forces Ḟ and - Ḟ, which is given by

F = G 𝑀𝑚
2
𝑟

G = Gravitational Constant = 6.67×10−11 N·(m/kg)2

 Sir Isaac Newton’s ”Law of Universal Gravitation”

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGY

IPE: A 3-Step Approach

1. Interpret: Read carefully and determine what is given and

what is to be found. If necessary, make assumptions
and indicate them.

2. Plan: Think about major steps that you will take to solve
a given problem. Think of alternative solutions
and choose the best one.

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

equations. Avoid simple calculation mistakes.
Reflect on/Revise your work.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

ENGINEERING MECHANICS

Chapter 2: Statics of Particles

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

Topics

• Resultant of Two Forces

• Vectors
• Addition of Vectors
• Resultant of Several Concurrent Forces
• Rectangular Components of a Force: Unit Vectors
• Addition of Forces by Summing Components
• Equilibrium of a Particle
• Free-Body Diagrams
• Rectangular Components in Space
• Work with Problems

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

Learning Objectives

The objectives for this chapter is to investigate the effects

of forces on particles:

replacing multiple forces acting on a particle with a single

equivalent or resultant force

relations between forces acting on a particle that is in a

state of equilibrium.

 Particles do not imply a restriction to miniscule bodies.

The study is restricted to analyses in which the size and shape of

the bodies is not significant so that all forces may be assumed
to be applied at a single point.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

VECTOR LAWS

Equality of Vectors: A vector is defined by the direction and

magnitude, two vectors are equal if they have the same magnitude
and direction.

Any two vectors which have the same magnitude and are
parallel to each other are equal. If they are not parallel then
they cannot be equal no matter what their magnitudes are.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

VECTOR LAWS

Concurrent Forces:

• Set of forces which all pass through the same point.

• A set of concurrent forces applied to a particle may be

replaced by a single resultant force which is the vector
sum of the applied forces.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

VECTOR LAWS
Vector addition is performed using either the parallelogram
law or triangle law (Graphical)

• Parallelogram Law for Addition of Forces

 A force is represented by a vector

 Characterized by its i) point of application, ii)
magnitude, and iii) direction

 Two forces acting on a particle may

be replaced by a single force, called
the Resultant.

 The Resultant is obtained by drawing

a diagonal of the parallelogram with
sides equal to the given forces.
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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

VECTOR LAWS

• Triangle Rule for Addition of Forces

 Always ‘tip to tail’

Addition of three or more vectors through

repeated application of the triangle rule

• Vector addition is commutative

→ → → →
PQ  Q P

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 MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

VECTOR LAWS

• The polygon rule for the addition of three or more vectors

• Vector addition is associative

→ → → → → → → → →
P  Q  S  P  Q S  P  Q  S 

 C
 B
• Law of cosines: R2  P2  Q2  2PQ cos B C
→ → →
R  PQ

• Law of sines: sin A sin B sin C B

 
P R Q
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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

APPLICATION OF VECTOR ADDITION

 There are four concurrent cable forces acting on the bracket.
How do you determine the resultant force acting on the bracket ? 

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

VECTOR LAWS
Principle of Transmissibility A force applied anywhere along
its line of application produces
the same effect. This is known
as Transmissibility of Force.

• If the same force is applied

at a point away from its line
of application, the effect
produced is different.

The transmissibility does not mean that force can be

applied anywhere to produce the same effect but
only at any point on its line of application.
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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

RESOLUTION OF A VECTOR

Resolution of a vector is breaking up a vector into

components.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

RESOLUTION OF A VECTOR:
CARTESIAN VECTOR NOTATION

We ‘resolve’ vectors into components

using the x and y axes system.

Each component of the vector is shown

as a magnitude and a direction.

The directions are based on the x and y axes. We use the “unit
vectors” i and j to designate the x and y axes.

• For example,
F = Fx i + Fy j
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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

RESOLUTION OF A VECTOR:
CARTESIAN VECTOR NOTATION
Rectangular Components of a Force:

F = Fx i + Fy j
F' = F'xi + F' yj

The x and y axes are always perpendicular to each other.

They can be directed at any inclination.
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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

ADDITION OF SEVERAL VECTORS

y

Step 1: resolve each force into its components

Step 2: add all the x components together and add all the y
components together. These two totals become the resultant
vector.

Step 3: find the magnitude and angle of the resultant vector.

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MEE 105: Engineering Mechanics I

ADDITION OF SEVERAL VECTORS

FRx   Fx FRy  F
y

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