Chapter One

1.1 Introduction
Mechanics:. is the physical science which deals with the effects of forces on objects.
Engineering Mechanics is divided into two parts,
Statics:. that deals with bodies at rest or forces in equilibrium.
Dynamics :. is concerned with the accelerated motion of bodies and deals with the analysis of
physical bodies in motion.
Basic Concepts
The following concepts and definitions are basic to the study of mechanics.
Space is the geometric region occupied by bodies whose positions are described by linear and
angular measurements relative to a coordinate system.
For three-dimensional(3D) problems, three independent coordinates are needed.
For two-dimensional(2D) problems, only two coordinates are required.
Time measure of the succession of events and is a basic quantity in dynamics. not directly
involved in the analysis of statics problems.
Mass measure of the inertia of a body, which is its resistance to a change of velocity. Mass can
also be thought of as the quantity of matter in a body. Mass of a body affects the gravitational
attraction force between it and other bodies. This force appears in many applications in statics.
Force is defined as any action that tends to change the state of rest or motion of a body to which it is
applied. The action of a force is characterized by its
 Magnitude
 Point of application
 Direction of application
Particle is a body of negligible dimensions. In the mathematical sense, a particle is a body whose
dimensions are considered to be near zero so that we may analyze it as a mass concentrated at a
point.
Rigid body. A body is considered rigid when the change in distance between any two of its
points is negligible.
1.2 Scalars and Vectors
Scalars and Vectors are the two kinds of quantities used in mechanics.
Scalar quantities are only associated with magnitude. example Time[s], Mass [Kg], Area
[m2], Volume [m3], Density [Kg/m3], Distance [m],speed[m/s] etc.
Vector quantities :. a quantity that has both direction and magnitude, must obey the parallelogram
law of addition. . Let a vector be denoted by the symbol ⃗
A and the magnitude of ⃗
A is | ⃗
A |≡ A
Example Force[N, Kg.m/s2], Velocity [m/s], Acceleration [m/s2], Moment[Nm],etc
1.3 Operation with Vectors
Representation of Vectors
I. Graphic representation
Graphically, a vector is represent as a line segment oriented from an initial point, called the
tail(A), to a final point, called the head(B).

Note: The direction of the vector may be measured by an angle θ from some known reference
direction

II. Algebraic (arithmetic) representation

Algebraically a vector is represented by the components of the vector along the three
dimensions.

V is the vector sum of the components in the x-, y-, and z-directions, we can express V as follows
We now make use of the direction cosines l, m, and n of V, which are defined
by

Thus, we may write the magnitudes of the components of V as

where, from the Pythagorean theorem

i,j, and k are unit vectors along the respective axes

Properties of vectors
Equality of vectors: Two free vectors are said to be equal if and only if they have the same
magnitude and direction.

The Negative of a vector: is a vector which has equal magnitude to a given vector but opposite
in direction

Null vector: is a vector of zero magnitude. A null vector has an arbitrary direction.
Unit vector: is any vector whose magnitude is unity. A unit vector along the direction of a
certain vector, say vector A (denoted by uA) can then be found by dividing vector A by its
magnitude.
⃗
A
u⃗ A =
|A|
Generally, any two or more vectors can be aligned in different manner. But they may be:
 Collinear: Having the same line of action.
 Coplanar: Lying in the same plane.
 Concurrent: Passing through a common point.
Operations with Vectors
Scalar quantities are operated in the same way as numbers are operated. But vectors are not and
should be studied

1.3.1 Vector Addition or Composition of Vectors

Composition of vectors is the process of adding two or more vectors to get a single vector, called
resultant, which has the same external effect as the combined effect of individual vectors on the
rigid body they act.
There are different techniques of adding vectors
 Graphical Method
 The parallelogram law
 The Triangle rule
 Analytic method
 Trigonometric rules
Component method of vector addition
Graphical Method
The parallelogram law
The law states, “if A and B are two free vectors drawn on scale, the resultant (the equivalent
vector) of the vectors can be found by drawing a parallelogram having sides of these vectors, and
the resultant will be the diagonal starting from the tails of both vectors and ending at the heads of
both vectors.”
Steps:
First join the tails of the components at a point so that it makes concurrent, Fig. (a),From the
head of B, draw a line parallel to A, draw another line from the head of A that is parallel to B.
These two lines intersect at point P to form the adjacent sides of a parallelogram.
The diagonal of this parallelogram that extends to P forms R, which then represents the resultant
vector
R = A + B, Fig. (b).
Once the parallelogram is drawn to scale, the magnitude of the resultant can be found by
measuring the diagonal and converting it to magnitude by the appropriate scale. The direction of
the resultant with respect to one of the vectors can be found by measuring the angle the diagonal
makes with that vector.
Note: As we can see in the above figure.

The other diagonal of the parallelogram gives the difference of the vectors, and depending from
which vertex it starts, it represents either⃗
A−⃗
B or ⃗
B− ⃗
A.

Since the two diagonal vectors in the above figure are not equal, of course one is the negative
vector of the other. vector subtraction is not commutative.
i .e
 The Triangle rule
It states “If the two vectors, which are drawn on scale, are placed tip (head) to tail, their
resultant will be the third side of the triangle which has tail at the tail of the first vector and
head at the head of the last.”

Steps:
Draw the first Vector Join the tail of the Second to the head of the First and then join the head of
the third to the tail of the first force to get the resultant force, R
The Triangle rule can be extended to more than two vectors as, “If a system of vectors are joined
head to tail, their resultant will be the vector that completes the polygon so formed, and it starts
from the tail of the first vector and ends at the head of the last vector.”

Analytic Method:-The analytic methods are the direct applications of the above postulates and
theorems in which the resultant is found mathematically instead of measuring it from the
drawings as in the graphical method.
Trigonometric rules:. The resultant of two vectors can be found analytically from the
parallelogram rule by applying the cosine and the sine rules.
Consider the following parallelogram. And let α be the angle between the two vectors
 Cosine Law: Sine Law
A B C
C =√ A 2 + B2−2 ABcosc = =
sina sinb sinc
Consider triangle ABC.

A| + |B| - 2|⃗
A||⃗
B|cos θ
2 2
R| = |⃗
From cosine law, |⃗ 2

⇒|R| = √|⃗A| +|B| −2|⃗A||⃗B|cos θ

2 2
; This is called the magnitude of the resultant of the two
vectors.
Similarly, the inclination, β, of the resultant vector from ⃗
A can be found by using sine law,

B
=
R
sinβ sinθ
⟹ β = sin−1 sin
[
θ∗|⃗B|
|⃗R| ]
, which is the angle the resultant makes with vector A.

Decomposition of vectors
Decomposition is the process of getting the components of a given vector along some other
different axis. Practically decomposition is the reverse of composition .General expression for
obtaining components along any axis Consider the following vector ⃗
A . And let our aim be to find
the components of the vector along the n and t axes

Tip: To resolve A along the two axes t and n

Start at the head of A and construct lines
parallel to the axes, thereby forming the
parallelogram as shown in fig. b. The sides of
the parallelogram represent the components,
At and An.

From triangle ABC, α = 180 –( θ+ ∅ ) and from sine law,

 |⃗
An|
=
|⃗A|
A n| =|⃗
⟹|⃗ A|
sin ∅
A t| =|⃗
Similarly, |⃗ A|
sin θ
sin ∅ sin α sin α sin α

The above are general expressions to get the components of a vector along any axis. In most
cases though, as said above, components are sought along perpendicular axes,
i.e. α =180−(θ+ Φ)=90
⇒ sin α = 1
⇒|⃗
A n| =|⃗
A|sin ∅ = |⃗
A|sin θ

|⃗
A t| =|⃗
A|sin θ = |⃗
A| cos ∅
Component method of vector addition
This is the most efficient method of vector addition, especially when the number of vectors to be
added is large. In this method first the components of each vector along a convenient axis will be
calculated. The sum of the components of each vector along each axis will be equal to the
components of their resultant along the respective axes. Once the components of the resultant are
found, the resultant can be found by parallelogram rule as discussed above.

Vector Multiplication: (Dot and Cross products)

Multiplication of vectors by scalars

Let n be a non-zero scalar and A be a vector, then multiplying A by n gives as a vector whose
magnitude is nA and whose direction is in the direction of A.
Multiplication of vectors by scalars obeys the following rules:
Scalars are distributive over vectors.
n (⃗ B) = n⃗
A+⃗ A + n⃗
B
Vectors are distributive over scalars.
(n + m)⃗
A =n⃗
A + m⃗
B
Multiplication of vectors by scalars is associative.
(nm)⃗
A = m(n⃗
A ) = n( m⃗
A)
Multiplication of vector by a vector
In mechanics there are a few physical quantities that can be represented by a product of vectors.
Eg. Work, Moment, etc
There are two types of products of vector multiplication:
Dot Product: gives a scalar result, also called Scalar Product.

Cross Product: gives a vector result, hence also called Vector Product.
Dot Product
The dot product of two vectors A and B is defined as the product of the magnitudes of A
and B and the cosine of the angle θ between them. This is expressed in equation form as,

⃗ B=|⃗
A ⋅⃗ A||⃗
B| cos θ

Properties of Operation:
Commutative Law: A⋅B = B⋅A
Multiplication by a Scalar: a ( A ⋅ B ) = ( a A ) ⋅ B = A ⋅ ( a B )
Distributive Law: A ⋅ ( B+ D ) = ( A ⋅ B ) + ( A ⋅ D )
If two vectors are expressed as their rectangular form`
A=a x i+a y j+ az k and B=b x i+ b y j+b z k
Then the dot product will be
⃗
A ⋅⃗
B=( a x i+ a y j+a z k ) ⋅ ( b x i+ b y j+b z k )
= a x b x ( i⋅i ) + a x b y ( i⋅ j ) + a x b z ( i ⋅k ) + a y b x ( j ⋅i ) +a y b y ( j⋅ j ) + a y b z ( j ⋅k ) + a z b x ( k ⋅i ) + a z b y ( k ⋅ j )
+ a z b z ( k ⋅k )
Carrying out the dot-product operations, the final result becomes

⃗
A ⋅⃗
B=ax b x + a y b y + a z b z

Cross Product
The cross product of two vectors ⃗ B yields vector ⃗
A and ⃗ C , which is written as ⃗
C =⃗
A×⃗
B
The magnitude of C is defined as the product of magnitudes of A and B and the sine of the
angle θ between their tails.

⟹|⃗
C| = |⃗
A||⃗
B|sin θ

Direction: Vector⃗
C has a direction that is perpendicular to the plane containing A and B. The
direction of ⃗
C can be determined by the right-hand rule; i.e curling the fingers of the right hand
from vector ⃗ B, the thumb points in the direction of⃗
A to vector⃗ C.
Knowing both the magnitude and direction of ⃗ C = |⃗
C , we can write ⃗ A||⃗
B|sin θ u⃗ c
ABsinθ defines the magnitude and u⃗ c defines the direction of C.

Properties of Cross Product

The commutative law is not valid, i.e., ⃗
A×⃗
B≠⃗
B×⃗
A . Rather,

The vector cross product obeys the distributive law addition,

Cartesian Vector Formulation

Those results should not be memorized; rather it should be clearly understood how each is
obtained by using the right hand rule and the definition of the cross product. The simple scheme
shown above is helpful for obtaining the cross products easily.
Let’s now consider the cross product of two general vectors ⃗
A and ⃗
B;
 ⃗
A = A x i + A y j + A z k , and ⃗
B = Bx i + B y j + Bz k
⃗
A×⃗
B = ¿ + A y j + A z k )×( Bx i + B y j + Bz k )

Carrying out the cross product operations and combining terms of vectors A and B yields

This equation may also be written in a more compact determinant form as,