Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and

Gravity
12.1 The rigid body in equilibrium
12.2 More on the centre of gravity
12.3 Examples of rigid objects in static equilibrium
12.4 Elastic properties of solids
13.1 Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
13.2 Free-fall acceleration and the gravitational force
13.6 Energy considerations in planetary and satellite
motion

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

For the moment, forget about rotation…
We want to know: under what conditions is an object stationary?

Little box
Why is the big box not
moving?
Big box
Consider things using
Newton’s second law…
From Newton’s second law
the net force on the box is
Table zero…does this change if the
points of application of the
forces change?

It is obvious that the box will fall off the table if the points of application of the
various forces are changed as suggested in the animation, however, Newton’s
second law cannot tell us this very obvious fact….
Let us think about rotation: where are the forces applied to the big box?

FN Is the torque on the

box zero?
Little box
Let us take
this as our
pivot point… Big box
r2 What conditions must
be satisfied for the
r1 Fg,little box to be stationary?

Fg,big Around which

Table
point though?

Sum of forces = zero And Sum of torques = zero

a=0 α=0
v = 0 or v is constant ω = 0 or v is constant
 The rigid body in equilibrium
We define equilibrium as the state where the linear
and angular velocities remain constant. Thus, by
Newton’s 2nd law and the definition of torque,

F  0 and τ  0
For the first of these conditions, the equation holds
for every one of the dimensions used, i.e. Fx = 0.
We next show that if these equilibrium conditions
are true for a particular axis of a rigid body, it will
also hold with regards to rotation about any other
axis

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Consider an object for which the first equilibrium
criterion, F = 0, is satisfied.
The net torque about an arbitrary axis O is then
given by
 τO  r1  F1  r2  F2  r3  F3  ...
Now consider a different axis O, at a position r
relative to O. The point of application of F1 is then
r1 – r, and r2 – r for F2, etc. Thus
 τO  (r1  r)  F1  (r2  r)  F2  ...
 r1  F1  r2  F2  ...  r  (F1  F2  ...)
  τ O  r  0   τ O

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 More on the centre of gravity

The centre of
gravity is that point
at which the sum
of the gravitational
forces due to all
individual masses www.traveljournals.net
nrich.maths.org comprising the system appears to
act. The net torque about the centre
of gravity due to the gravitational
forces on the masses in the system
is zero

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 The total torque of the individual weights, mig,
equals the torque due to the total weight, (mi)×g,
concentrated at the location of the centre of gravity
(CG)
Thus  (mi gxi )   mi gxCG
 xCG 
 mi xi
 mi
Thus the centre of gravity is equivalent to the centre
of mass (provided that the acceleration due to
gravity, g, is equal everywhere)

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Examples of rigid objects in static
equilibrium
www.jda.org.za

www.johannesburg-direct.com

Calculating the forces and torques acting www.amethyst.co.za

on rigid bodies is critical in civil and
mechanical engineering. For equilibrium,
the resultant force and torque are zero

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Problem solving strategy
 Isolate the object analysed, and draw a free-body
diagram showing all forces acting on this object
 Choose a convenient set of coordinates and find
the components of the forces in these coordinates
 Apply the first equilibrium condition, F = 0
 Choose a convenient axis to calculate the net
torque of the object
 Apply the second equilibrium condition,  = 0
 Solve simultaneous equations to obtain missing
quantity

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Example 12.3 – The leaning ladder

A uniform ladder of length ℓ and

mass m rests against a smooth
vertical wall. The coefficient of static
friction between the ladder and the
ground is μs = 0.4. Find the
minimum angle θmin at which the
ladder does not slip
We start by identifying The normal
all the forces and force is
drawing a free body horizontal as
diagram the wall is
frictionless

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Extra example
A man of mass 60kg stands 1.5 m away
from a wall on a 5 m long beam, weighing
300N. The beam is supported by a cable
that makes an angle of 53 degrees as in
figure.

Calculate the tension in the cable and the

component of the reaction force in the
wall, where beam attached.
 Elastic properties of solids
A piece of material subjected to a force will in
general experience a (usually) small distortion,
which may be either temporary or permanent
Stress causes the deformation, and is proportional
to the force applied
Strain is the degree of deformation of the material

Three types of elastic moduli are commonly used.

All are material properties, and defined as the
stress divided by the strain

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Young’s modulus – elasticity in length

A piece of material is
stretched or compressed
by a tensile force (i.e.
perpendicular to one of
the sides). We define
stress and strain as

F L
tensile stress  tensile strain 
A Li
Note: A is the area perpendicular to the
force, and L is parallel to the line of the force

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Definition of Young’s F
tensile stress A
modulus Y: Y 
tensile strain L
Li

When stretching a material:

 Stress  strain up to elastic
limit, i.e. original length
restored after force removed
 Beyond elastic limit, perma-
nent deformation occurs
 If strain is still increased to
breaking point, material
snaps

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Shear modulus – elasticity in shape

Here the force is applied tangentially

to a surface of area A. h refers to the
thickness of the material perpendicu-
lar to the area over which the force
exerts its tangential stress

shear stress 
F x
shear strain 
A h
Definition of Shear F
shear stress
S  A
modulus S: shear strain x
h

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Bulk modulus – volume elasticity

F
volume stress 
A
V
volume strain 
Vi

F
We define pressure as P 
A
Pressure is measured in N/m2
F
pressure change  P 
A

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 F
We define the bulk volume stress  A   P
B 
modulus B as: volume strain V V
Vi Vi

Note that the units of the bulk modulus are in N.m-2

The negative sign is necessary because here the

force is applied on the material, i.e. V decreases
when P increases
1
Compressibility is defined as
B

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Example 1
A vertical steel beam in a building supports a load of
6x104 N. If the length of the beam is 4m and its cross
sectional area is 8.0X10-3m2, find the distance it is
compressed along its length. Young’s modulus for steel is
Y = 20x1010Pa.

Example 2
A solid lead sphere of volume 0.5m3 is dropped in the
ocean to a depth of about 2000m where the pressure
increases by 2x107Pa. Lead has a bulk modulus of
7.7x109Pa. What is the change in volume of the sphere?

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Chapter 13: Newton’s law of
universal gravitation
Newton supposedly ‘discovered’ gravitation while
sitting under an apple tree. An apple fell on his head.

The story is a myth. But what is

true is that about 350 years ago
Newton did think about an
obvious question, but one that
home.clara.net
does not have an obvious answer:
Why do things fall down?

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 At that stage there was no indication that the
phenomenon responsible for falling objects, to become
known as gravity, was also the key to understanding
the Solar System.
The work of Kepler,
Copernicus and
Galileo showed that
the planets orbited
the Sun, and moons
orbit the planets.

Why did this happen?

www.montana.edu

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 That is where Newton made his great

www.cep.unt.edu
discovery. He realised that the falling
apple and the movement of the
planets could all be explained by one
simple formula, that has since been
referred to as:
Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation
Every particle in the universe attracts every other
particle with a force that is directly proportional to the
product of their masses and inversely proportional to
the square of the distance between them
m1m2
Mathematically, Fg  G 2
r

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 G is known as the universal gravitational constant

G  6.67 1011 N.m2 / kg 2

Vectorially, F12, the force

exerted by particle 1 on particle
2 is mm
F12  G 1
2
2
rˆ12
r
This force is equal but opposite to the force exerted
by particle 2 on particle 1
F21  F12

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Free-fall acceleration and the
gravitational force
Note that r, the distance between the two objects in
Newton’s Law, is measured between the centres of
mass of the objects
The weight of an object equals the gravitational
force between that object and the Earth, i.e.
M Em
mg  G 2
RE
Therefore the acceleration due to
gravity will be ME
g G 2
RE

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Suppose we wish to Satellite far above
determine the acceleration Earth’s atmosphere
due to gravity at an altitude
h above the Earth’s surface
Here
M Em M Em
Fg  G 2  G
r ( RE  h) 2
GM E
 g ( h) 
( RE  h) 2
Thus g decreases with
increasing altitude

imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Example 13.3 – The density of the Earth
Using the known radius of the Earth and that g =
9.8 m/s2 at the Earth’s surface, determine the
average density of the Earth
GM E gRE 2
g 2
 ME 
RE G
2
M E gRE / G 3g
E   
VE 4 R
E
3
4RE G
3
3  9.8

 
4  6.37 106  6.67 1011  = 5510 kg/m3

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Class Discussion Topics
 Why is it that two objects accelerate downwards at
the same rate, regardless of their masses?
 Why does the Moon not ‘fall’ onto the Earth?
(video)
 How can one calculate the mass of the Earth and
Sun?
 Consider a satellite in a circular orbit about the
Earth. Would this satellite have the same orbit and
angular velocity if its mass was changed?
 What is a geostationary satellite? What can we
say about its orbit?

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Energy considerations in planetary
and satellite motion
Planetary and satellite motion occur when a planet
orbits a star (Sun), or a satellite (e.g. Moon) orbits a
planet.
Planets (or satellites) are effectively isolated. Thus
their total energy (= kinetic + gravitational potential
energy), as well as the angular momentum, stay
constant.

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity

 Escape speed
When something is thrown up, the
gravitational acceleration slows it
down, and it eventually falls back
to the ground.

www.star.ucl.ac.uk
But note that this accelera-
tion gets weaker, the higher
the object moves
If your initial speed exceeds the so-called escape speed,
the acceleration becomes too weak to bring it back

PHY1A01 – Static Equilibrium, Elasticity and Gravity