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Mechanics 1
EE1MEC
Lecture 1
Introduction
Dr. Khalid Anwar
Kanwar@muscatuniversity.edu.om
Room 606
Tel: 2464-5(455)
Module information

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Module Description

The module aims to provide students with a

fundamental understanding of static mechanics and
mechanical behaviour. Students will acquire an
appreciation of the purpose, behaviour and
performance of systems, rigs and equipment used
throughout the course of study and further career.

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 Module Learning Outcomes

1 recognize the significance of Newtons Laws with respect to mechanical behaviour

2 recognize the significance of friction and vibration with respect to mechanical

systems
3 with guidance, set up equations of static equilibrium to solve problems

4 appreciate the role of calculus in understanding mechanical relationships

5 solve problems using analytical skills; write reports and use numeracy skills

6 display an acceptable standard of behaviour and safety in a laboratory environment

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Indicative Module Content/Outline
➢ • units, forces and moments
➢ • Newton’s Laws of motion and gravity, static equilibrium
➢ • free body diagrams
➢ • force systems: forces, moments, couples, resultant forces
➢ • force systems: equilibrium, trusses
➢ • kinematics: plane motion; displacement, velocity, acceleration
➢ • Friction phenomena and applications
➢ • Mechanical systems; work, power, and energy
Experiments on statics
3 lab experiments = 20%
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Indicative Reading List
Meriam and Kraige, Engineering Mechanics V1 (Statics) -7th Edition, 2018

Online resources
Digital libraries, websites of national, regional, and international organizations and
associations.

Different Learning Support

Published articles and reports form industry, national and international
organizations and associations.

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Assessment Overview

Assessment Overview

Assessment Type Assessment Details Learning Outcome Weight %

Coursework Group lab 1-6 20

assignment
Exam Mid-term Exam 1-3 20

Exam Final Exam 1-5 60

SUM 100

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General Principles
1. INTRODUCTION
• Definition
2. Fundamental Concepts
Units
Significant Figures
3. RIGID BODY MECHANICS
Statics and Dynamics
Newton’s 1st Law
Newton’s 2nd Law
Newton’s 3rd Law
4. Numerical Calculations
5. Examples

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Definitions:
• The definition for Mechanics as follows:
“The branch of science dealing with the state of rest or motion of bodies
that are subject to forces”.
• In more general terms, mechanics can be thought of as
involving bodies and forces, and
the basic idea that everything happens for a reason.
It could include mechanics of solids, mechanics of fluids, mechanics
of structures, mechanics of economy, etc.

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 Classification of Mechanics
The subject of mechanics is logically divided into
two parts:
➢ statics, which concerns the equilibrium of Mechanics
bodies(rigid bodies) under action of forces, and
➢ dynamics, which concerns the motion of
bodies(rigid bodies). Statics Dynamics

Point to remember:
❑ In statics body is not in motion. It is at rest

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Definitions:
• Classically, the subject of mechanics can be divided into three braches:
1. Rigid-body Mechanics,

2. Deformable-body Mechanics,

3. Fluid Mechanics,

In this course- we will focus on the rigid body mechanics.

It is essential for the design and analysis of many types of structural members, mechanical
components, or electrical devices encountered in engineering.

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 Concept of rigid body
Rigid body. A body is called a rigid body if it does
not deform under the influence F
of forces;
b b’
a a'
❖ A body is considered rigid when the distance
between any two point remains same after the
application of external force.
ab=a’b’

Point to remember:
❑ In Engineering mechanics we will deal only with rigid body
and not the deformable body

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 Prepared by F. M., Defersha

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

1. Space is the geometric region occupied by bodies whose positions are described by
linear and angular measurements relative to a coordinate system.
2. Time is the measure of the succession of events and is a basic quantity in dynamics.
Time is not directly involved in the analysis of statics problems.
3. Mass is a 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. The mass of a body affects
the gravitational attraction force between it and other bodies. This force appears in many
applications in statics.

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS
4. Force is the action of one body on another. A force tends to move a body in the
direction of its action. The action of a force is characterized by its magnitude, by the
direction of its action, and by its point of application.

o Force: force is considered as a ‘push’ or ‘pull’ exerted by one body on another.

o This interaction can occur when there is direct contact between the bodies, such as a person
pushing on a wall, or
o It can occur through a distance when the bodies are physically separated.
o Examples of the latter type include gravitational, electrical, and magnetic forces. In any case, a
force is completely characterized by its magnitude, direction, and point of application.

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Idealizations:
• Models or idealizations are used in mechanics in order to simplify

application of the theory.

•Three important idealizations:

1- Particles: a particle has a mass, but a size that can be neglected.
Example: Earth when studying its orbit motion. (Body geometry will
not be involved in the analysis).

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Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Idealizations:
2 Rigid Body: a rigid body can be considered as a
combination of a large number of particles in which all the
particles remain at a fixed distance from one another.

3 Concentrated Force: a concentrated force represents the

effect of a loading which is assumed to act at a point on a
body. (load over area)

Example: contact force between a wheel and the ground.

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 Prepared by F. M., Defersha

FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS

Three forces act on the ring. Since these

forces all meet at a point, then for any
Steel is a common engineering material that does not
force analysis, we can assume the ring to be
deform very much under load. Therefore, we can
represented as a particle.
consider this railroad wheel to be a rigid body acted
upon by the concentrated force of the rail.

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Units
❖ In mechanics we use four fundamental quantities called dimensions.
❖ These are length, mass, force, and time.
❖ The units used to measure these quantities cannot all be chosen independently
because they must be consistent with Newton’s second law.
❖ Although there are a number of different systems of units, only the two
systems most commonly used in science and technology will be used here:

U.S. Customary
SI Unit Unit

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Fundamental dimensions and their units

The four fundamental dimensions and their units and symbols in the
two systems are summarized in the following table.

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SI Units
❖ The International System of Units, abbreviated SI (from the French, Systeme
International d’Unites), is accepted in the United States and throughout the world.

Therefore, a body of mass 1 kg weighs 9.81 N,

a 2-kg body weighs 19.62 N, and so on.

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Unit Conversions
Figure depicts examples of force, mass, and
length in the two systems of units, to aid in
visualizing their relative magnitudes.

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Example:

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Example:

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Example:

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Example:

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Example:

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

Example:

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

Rigid Body Mechanics

•Isaac Newton: proposed 3 laws of motion central to the study of

mechanics. These laws apply to the motion of a particle as measured
from a non-accelerating reference frame.

• The three concerning relations

between force, motion, acceleration, mass,
and inertia.

•Why are Newton's laws of motion important?

• Because they are the foundation of classical mechanics.
•Mechanics is the study of how objects move or do not move when forces act upon them.

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Force
Force is the action of one body on another. A force
tends to move a body in the direction of its action.

Although forces cannot be seen or directly observed, we are familiar

with their effects.

For example,
❖ a helical spring stretches when a weight is hung on it or it is pulled.
❖ Our muscle tension conveys a qualitative feeling of the force in the
spring.
❖ Similarly, a stone is accelerated by gravitational force during free
fall, or by muscle force when it is thrown
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Characteristics of a Force
A single force is characterized by three properties:
magnitude, direction, and point of application.

magnitude
direction

point of application.

Point to remember:
1. When we hear the word FORCE three things must come to our mind immediately.

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 Characteristics of a Force
magnitude
The quantitative effect of a force is given by its magnitude.
The magnitude F of a force can be measured by comparing it with gravity,
i.e., with calibrated or standardized weights. If the body of weight G in Fig.
is in equilibrium, then F = G. The “Newton”, abbreviated N is used as the
unit of force.

direction
The direction of the force can be described by its line of action and its
sense of direction (orientation). In Figure the line of action f of the force F
is inclined under the angle α to the horizontal. The sense of direction is
indicated by the arrow.

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Characteristics of a Force
point of application.
Finally, a single force acts at a certain point of application. Depending
on the location of point A in Fig. below, the force will cause different
movements of the box

As discussed earlier quantity determined by magnitude and direction is called a

vector. In contrast to a free vector, which can be moved arbitrarily in space provided it
maintains its direction, a force is tied to its line of action and has a point of
application. Therefore, we conclude: The force is a bound vector.

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 Force Classification

➢ Forces are classified as either contact or body forces.

➢ A contact force is produced by direct physical contact; an example is the force
exerted on a body by a supporting surface.
➢ On the other hand, a body force is generated by virtue of the position of a body
within a force field such as a gravitational, electric, or magnetic field.
➢ An example of a body force is your weight.

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

Newton’s Laws

•Newton’s First Law:

A particle originally at rest, or moving in a straight line with constant velocity, tends to remain in this
state unless it is acted upon by a force. It is also known as law of inertia.

Illustration of Newton’s First Law of motion

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

Newton’s Laws

•Newton’s Second Law:

A particle acted upon by an unbalanced force F experiences an acceleration a that has the same
direction as the force and a magnitude that is directly proportional to the force. If F is applied
to a particle of mass m, this law may be expressed mathematically as : F=ma

Accelerated motion
Illustration of Newton’s Second Law of Motion

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 Introduction Prepared by F. M., Defersha

Newton’s Laws

•Newton’s Third Law:

According to Newton’s Third law of motion, the forces of action and reaction between interacting
bodies are equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, and collinear (they lie on the same line).

Stated another way, the unbalanced

force acting on the particle is
proportional to the time rate of
change of the particle’s linear
momentum
Action-reaction

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Correctness of Newton Laws

The correctness of Newton laws has been verified by innumerable accurate physical
measurements.

➢ Newton’s first law contains the principle of the equilibrium of forces, which is the
main topic of concern in statics. This law is actually a consequence of the second law,
since there is no acceleration when the force is zero, and the particle either is at
rest or is moving with a uniform velocity. The first law adds nothing new to the
description of motion but is included because it was part of Newton’s classical
statements.

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Correctness of Newton Laws

➢ Newton’s second law forms the basis for most of the analysis in dynamics. As applied
to a particle of mass m, it may be stated as

F = ma

Where,
‘F’ is the vector sum of forces acting on the particle
‘a’ is the resulting acceleration

This equation is a vector equation because the direction of F must agree with the
direction of a, and the magnitudes of F and ma must be equal.

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Correctness of Newton Laws

➢ The third law is basic to our understanding of force. It states that forces always
occur in pairs of equal and opposite forces. Thus, the downward force exerted on
the desk by the pencil is accompanied by an upward force of equal magnitude
exerted on the pencil by the desk. This principle holds for all forces, variable or
constant, regardless of their source, and holds at every instant of time during which
the forces are applied.

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 Law of Gravitation
In statics as well as dynamics we often need to compute the weight of a body, which is
the gravitational force acting on it. This computation depends on the law of gravitation,
which was also formulated by Newton.

Newton assumed a law governing the gravitational

attraction between any two particles. Newton knew that:
• The dependence of gravity upon the distance,
• The dependence of gravity upon the mass,

•He verified that: the force causes an apple to fall

toward the ground is the same force that causes the
moon orbit around the Earth.
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Law of Gravitation

The law of gravitation, which was also formulated by Newton is expressed by the
equation as follows:- r

𝑚1𝑚2
F= 𝐺 Sun Earth
r2
Where,
F = the mutual force of attraction between two particles
G = a universal constant known as the constant of gravitation = 6.67×10−11 Nm2/kg2 r2
m1, m2 = the masses of the two particles
r = the distance between the centres of the particles

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Law of Gravitation
•Weight (W):
We can developed an approximate expression for finding weight W of
particle having mass m1=m.
- Assume that the earth having a mass m2= Mc.

Let g = G(Mc/r2 )

By comparison: F=ma , g= is acceleration due to gravity.

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 Example
SAMPLE PROBLEM 1/2
Use Newton’s law of universal gravitation to calculate the weight
of a 70-kg person standing on the surface of the earth. Then
repeat the calculation by using W= mg and compare your two
results. Use Table D/2 as needed.

Solution. The two results are