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Course Outline: - Week 1, January 4 and 6

Fθ Fx x The course outline covers mechanics over two weeks, introducing fundamental concepts like Newton's laws of motion and gravitation, units of measurement, and vector representation and operations. Key topics include modeling particles and rigid bodies, defining scalar and vector quantities, resolving vectors into Cartesian components, and adding multiple vectors by summing their x and y components.

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Michael Demian
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50 views

Course Outline: - Week 1, January 4 and 6

Fθ Fx x The course outline covers mechanics over two weeks, introducing fundamental concepts like Newton's laws of motion and gravitation, units of measurement, and vector representation and operations. Key topics include modeling particles and rigid bodies, defining scalar and vector quantities, resolving vectors into Cartesian components, and adding multiple vectors by summing their x and y components.

Uploaded by

Michael Demian
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Course Outline Week 1, January 4 and 6 Textbook 1.1 - 1.6, 2.1 - 2.

6 Learning goals: Introduction to the basic quantities and idealization of mechanics. Recall Newton's Laws of Motion and Gravitation. System of units. Introduce vectors. Recall how to add forces and resolve them into components using Parallelogram and Triangle Laws. Start to learn how to express force and position in Cartesian vector form and explain how to determine the vector's magnitude and direction.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES (Chapter 1)


Rigid Body Mechanics We deal only with rigid bodies, i.e. we will not discuss deformable bodies or fluids. Rigid Body Mechanics is conventionally divided into Statics and Dynamics. In Statics, either nothing is moving or objects move with constant velocity (zero acceleration). In Dynamics, objects can move with acceleration.

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT (Section 1.3)


Four fundamental physical quantities. Length Mass Time Force Newtons 2nd Law relates them: F = m a We use this equation to develop systems of units. Units are arbitrary names we give to the physical quantities.

UNIT SYSTEMS
We will mainly work with the International System (SI) of units. Note that engineers also use the U.S. Customary (USCS) system. Table 1-1 in the textbook summarizes these unit systems:

NUMERICAL CALCULATIONS (Section 1.5) Must have dimensional homogeneity. Dimensions have to be the same on both sides of the equal sign, (e.g. distance = speed time.) Use an appropriate number of significant figures (3 for answer, at least 4 for intermediate calculations). Be consistent when rounding off. greater than 5, round up (3528 3530) smaller than 5, round down (0.03521 0.0352) equal to 5, round off to even number (2.485 2.48, 2.455 2.46)

MODEL FOR MECHANICS In order to calculate things (do theory) we need to use to use models or idealizations: Particle has a mass, but no size. Examples: earth circulating sun; electron orbiting nucleus. Rigid Body body does not deform under forces, and it can be considered an aggregation of a large number of particles fixed in the body. Concentrated Force An applied force is assumed to act at a point on the body.

Newtons Laws of Motion These are the three basic laws of mechanics: First Law: A particle at rest or moving with constant velocity in a straight line will remain in the same state unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Second Law: A particle that is acted upon by an unbalanced force will experience an acceleration in the direction of the force. F = ma Third Law: The forces of action and reaction are equal and opposite.

Newtons Law of Gravitation The attractive force between two particles due to gravitation is

m 1m F = G r2
F = the gravitational force

G = universal constant of gravitation; G = 66.73(10-12) m3/(kg.s2) m1, m2 = masses of the two particles r = distance between the particles

Weight Consider a particle of mass m above the earth. Let the mass of the earth be Me and the distance of the particle from the centre of the earth be r. Assume that the earth does not rotate. Let the force on the particle be called the weight, W. Then, using the equation for gravitational attraction,

mM e W = G 2 = mg r
where g = GMe / r2 and g points downwards. At Earths surface g = 9.81 m/s2 or 32.2 ft/s2

FORCE VECTORS

(Chapter 2)

Forces Most quantities that we use in Mechanics are either scalars or vectors. A scalar is a quantity that can be defined by a number (positive or negative). It also has units. Examples: mass; length; speed. In the text, a scalar is indicated by italic type, A. A vector is a quantity with magnitude and direction. It also has units. Examples: force; velocity. In the lectures a vector will be indicated by block r type, A. In handwritten work, it can be indicated by A . The magnitude is | A |, or A if it is understood that A is a positive quantity.

Representation of Vectors and Vector Operations


Read Ch. 2, sections 2.2 2.3 to refresh your memories about geometric representation of vectors, and the various operations on them, and, in particular, vector addition (parallelogram or triangle methods).

RESOLUTION OF A VECTOR

Resolution of a vector is breaking up a vector into components. It is kind of like using the parallelogram law in reverse.

It is useful to use perpendicular axes and to define a vector such as force in terms of its magnitude and the angle defining the direction:
y

F = F +F
2 x

2 y

Fy

F Fx

= tan
x

Fy Fx

Note: we can extend this procedure to 3D using axes x, y and z.

F = Fx2 + Fy2 + Fz2

Fz F Fy
y

Fx
x Well see how to handle the angles later.

CARTESIAN VECTORS First of all, we must introduce the unit vector.


For a vector A with a magnitude of A, a unit vector is defined as uA = A / A.

Characteristics of a unit vector: a) Its magnitude is 1. b) It is dimensionless. c) It points in the same direction as the original vector A.

CARTESIAN AXIS SYSTEM

The unit vectors in the Cartesian axis system are i, j, and k. They are unit vectors along the positive x, y, and z axes respectively. The axes are mutually perpendicular and we can choose their orientation in space.

CARTESIAN VECTORS
z k Fz F We resolve a vector F into components Fx, Fy and Fz Each component has a magnitude and points in one of the i, j, k directions

Fx Fy i x

A simple example: N
y

F = ( 20 i + 10 j )

F
10 N
x

20 N

Another simple example:


y

F = ( 20 i - 10 j ) N

20 N 10 N

ADDITION OF SEVERAL VECTORS (2D case) Step 1 is to resolve each force into its components Step 2 is to add all the x components together and add all the y components together. These two totals become the resultant vector. Step 3 is to find the magnitude and angle of the resultant vector.

In

general,

F Rx = F Ry =

F
i

ix

F
i

iy

Remember that you can also represent a 2-D vector with a magnitude and angle.
y

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