Engineering Mechanics Lecture 1

Prof.Sandip Kumar Chaudhury

Institute of Engineering & Management

Mechanical Engineering Department
The Laws of Motion

Newton’s first law

 Force
 Mass
 Newton’s second law
 Newton’s third law
 Examples
Dynamics
• Describes the relationship between the motion of objects in our
everyday world and the forces acting on them
• Language of Dynamics
• Force: The measure of interaction between two objects (pull or push).
It is a vector quantity – it has a magnitude and direction
• Mass: The measure of how difficult it is to change object’s velocity
(sluggishness or inertia of the object)
Forces
• The measure of interaction
between two objects (pull or push)
• Vector quantity: has magnitude and
direction
• May be a contact force or a field force
• Contact forces result from physical
contact between two objects
• Field forces act between disconnected
objects
• Also called “action at a distance”
 Forces

 Gravitational Force
 Archimedes Force
 Friction Force
 Tension Force
 Spring Force
 Normal Force
 Vector Nature of Force

 Vector force: has magnitude and direction

 Net Force: a resultant force acting on object
    
Fnet   F  F1  F2  F3  ......
 You must use the rules of vector addition to
obtain the net force on an object

| F | F12  F22  2.24 N

F1
  tan 1 ( )  26.6
F2
 Newton’s First Law

 An object at rest tends to stay at rest

and an object in motion tends to stay in
motion with the same speed and in the
same direction unless acted upon by an
unbalanced force

 An object at rest remains at rest as long as no net force acts on it

 An object moving with constant velocity continues to move with
the same speed and in the same direction (the same velocity) as
long as no net force acts on it
 “Keep on doing what it is doing”
 Newton’s First Law

 An object at rest tends to stay at rest

and an object in motion tends to stay in
motion with the same speed and in the
same direction unless acted upon by an
unbalanced force

When forces are balanced, the acceleration of

the object is zero
Object at rest: v = 0 and a = 0
Object in motion: v  0 and a = 0

The net force is defined as the vector sum of

all the external forces exerted on the object. If
the net force is zero, forces are balanced.
When forces are balances, the object can be
stationary, or move with constant velocity.
 Mass and Inertia
 Every object continues in its state of rest, or uniform
motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change
that state by unbalanced forces impressed upon it
 Inertia is a property of objects
to resist changes is motion!
 Mass is a measure of the
amount of inertia.
 Mass is a measure of the resistance of an object to
changes in its velocity
 Mass is an inherent property of an object
 Scalar quantity and SI unit: kg
Newton’s Second Law
 The acceleration of an object is
directly proportional to the net
force acting on it and inversely
proportional to its mass

 

a
F

Fnet
m m

  
Fnet   F  ma
 Units of Force
 Newton’s second law:
  
Fnet   F  ma
 SI unit of force is a Newton (N)
kg m
1 N 1 2
s
 US Customary unit of force is a pound
(lb)
 1 N = 0.225 lb

 Weight, also measured in lbs. is a

force (mass x acceleration). What is
the acceleration in that case?
 More about Newton’s 2nd Law
 You must be certain about which body we are applying it to
 Fnet must be the vector sum of all the forces that act on that body
 Only forces that act on that body are to be included in the vector
sum
 Net force component along an
axis gives rise to the acceleration
along that same axis

Fnet , x  max Fnet , y  ma y

 Sample Problem
 One or two forces act on a puck that moves over frictionless ice along an x axis, in
one-dimensional motion. The puck's mass is m = 0.20 kg. Forces F1 and F2 and are
directed along the x axis and have magnitudes F1 = 4.0 N and F2 = 2.0 N. Force F3 is
directed at angle  = 30° and has magnitude F3 = 1.0 N. In each situation, what is the
acceleration of the puck?

a) F1  ma x
F1 4.0 N
ax    20 m/s 2
m 0.2 kg

b) F1  F2  ma x
F1  F2 4.0 N  2.0 N
ax    10 m/s2
m 0.2 kg
Fnet , x  max c) F3, x  F2  ma x F3, x  F3 cos
F3 cos  F2 1.0 N cos 30  2.0 N
ax    5.7 m/s 2
m 0.2 kg
 Gravitational Force
 Gravitational force is a vector
 Expressed by Newton’s Law of Universal
Gravitation: mM
Fg  G
R2
 G – gravitational constant
 M – mass of the Earth
 m – mass of an object
 R – radius of the Earth
 Direction: pointing downward
 Weight
 The magnitude of the gravitational force
acting on an object of mass m near the
Earth’s surface is called the weight w of
the object: w = mg
 g can also be found from the Law of
Universal Gravitation
 Weight has a unit of N

mM
Fg  G 2 w  Fg  mg
R
M
g  G 2  9.8 m/s 2

R
Weight depends upon location R = 6,400 km
 Normal Force
 Force from a solid surface
which keeps object from
falling through
 Direction: always
perpendicular to the surface
 Magnitude: depends on
situation
N  Fg  ma y
N  mg  ma y

N  mg
 Tension Force: T
 A taut rope exerts forces on
whatever holds its ends
 Direction: always along the
cord (rope, cable, string ……)
and away from the object
 Magnitude: depend on
situation
T1 = T = T2
 Newton’s Third Law
 If object 1 and object 2 interact, the
force exerted by object 1 on object 2 is
equal in magnitude but opposite in
direction to the force exerted by object 2
on object 1

 
Fon A   Fon B

Equivalent to saying a single isolated force

cannot exist
Some Action-Reaction Pairs

GM
Fg  mg  m
R2
mM
Fg  G 2
R Gm
Fg  Ma  M 2
R
 Free Body Diagram
 The most important step in solving problems
involving Newton’s Laws is to draw the free
body diagram
 Be sure to include only the forces acting on
the object of interest
 Include any field forces acting on the object
 Do not assume the normal force equals the
weight
 Hints for Problem-Solving
 Read the problem carefully at least once
 Draw a picture of the system, identify the object of primary interest,
and indicate forces with arrows
 Label each force in the picture in a way that will bring to mind what
physical quantity the label stands for (e.g., T for tension)
 Draw a free-body diagram of the object of interest, based on the
labeled picture. If additional objects are involved, draw separate free-
body diagram for them
 Choose a convenient coordinate system for each object
 Apply Newton’s second law. The x- and y-components of Newton
second law should be taken from the vector equation and written
individually. This often results in two equations and two unknowns
 Solve for the desired unknown quantity, and substitute the numbers

Fnet , x  max Fnet , y  ma y

 Objects in Equilibrium

 Objects that are either at rest or moving with

constant velocity are said to be in equilibrium
 Acceleration of an object can be modeled as

zero: a  0
 Mathematically, the net force acting on the

object is zero F 0
 Equivalent to the set of component equations
given by
F x 0 F y 0
Equilibrium, Example 1
 Equilibrium, Example 2
 A traffic light weighing 100 N hangs from a vertical cable tied to two
other cables that are fastened to a support. The upper cables make
angles of 37° and 53° with the horizontal. Find the tension in
each of the three cables.
 Conceptualize the traffic light
 Assume cables don’t break
 Nothing is moving
 Categorize as an equilibrium problem
 No movement, so acceleration is zero
 Model as an object in equilibrium

F x 0 F y 0
 Equilibrium, Example 2

 Need 2 free-body diagrams

 Apply equilibrium equation to light
F y  0  T3  Fg  0
T3  Fg  100N
 Apply equilibrium equations to knot

F x  T1x  T2 x  T1 cos 37  T2 cos 53  0

F y  T1 y  T2 y  T3 y
 T1 sin 37  T2 sin 53  100N  0
 cos 37 
T2  T1    1.33T1
 
 cos 53 
T1  60N T2  1.33T1  80N
 Accelerating Objects

 If an object that can be modeled as a particle

experiences an acceleration, there must be a
nonzero net force acting on it
 Draw a free-body diagram
 Apply Newton’s Second Law in component form
 
 F  ma
F x  max F y  ma y
 Accelerating Objects, Example 1
 A man weighs himself with a scale in an
elevator. While the elevator is at rest, he
measures a weight of 800 N.
 What weight does the scale read if the
elevator accelerates upward at 2.0 m/s2? a
= 2.0 m/s2
 What weight does the scale read if the
elevator accelerates downward at 2.0 m/s2? N
a = - 2.0 m/s2
Upward:
F y  N  mg  ma N
N  mg  ma  m( g  a)

m
w

800 N
 80 N
N  mg
2
g 9.8 m/s
Downward: N  80(2.0  9.8)  624 N mg
N  mg
Thank You