FORCES AND FORCE

SYSTEMS

CHARACTERISTICS OF A FORCE
Force may be defined as the action of one body

on another that affects the state of motion or rest

of the body.
In the late 17th century, Sir Isaac Newton
summarized the effects of force in three basic
laws:

CHARACTERISTICS OF A FORCE
First Law: Any body at rest will remain at rest, and any

body in motion will move uniformly in a straight line,

unless acted upon by a force.(Equilibrium)
Second Law: The time rate of change of momentum is
equal to the force producing it, and the change takes
place in the direction in which the force is acting.
(F=mxa)
Third Law: For every force of action, there is a reaction
that is equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, and has
the same line of action. (Basic concept of force.)

CHARACTERISTICS OF A FORCE
A force is characterized by its (a) point of application,

(b) magnitude, and (c) direction.

 Magnitude refers to the quantity of force, a

numerical measure of the intensity.

Basic units of force are pound (lb. or #) and the
kilo pound (kip or k = 1,000#). In metric (SI) units,
force is expressed as the newton (N) or
kilonewton (kN) where 1 kN = 1,000 N.

An anchor device with three applied forces.

 The direction of a force is defined by its line

of action and sense. The line of action

represents an infinite straight line along
which the force is acting.

Force diagram of the anchor.

 The point of application defines the point where the

force is applied. In statics, the point of application

does not imply the exact molecule on which a force
is applied but a location that, in general, describes
the origin of a force
Magnitude refers to the quantity of force, a
numerical measure of the intensity. Basic units of
force that will be used throughout this text are the
pound (lb. or #) and the kilo pound (kip or k =
1,000#). In metric (SI) units, force is expressed as
the newton (N) or kilonewton (kN) where1 kN =
1,000 N.

 The direction of a force is defined by its line of

action and sense. The line of action represents

an infinite straight line along which the force is
acting.
If a force is applied such that the line of action is
neither vertical nor horizontal, some reference
system must be established.
Most commonly accepted is the angular symbol
of (theta) or (phi) to denote the number of
degrees the line of action of the force is in relation
to the horizontal or Vertical axis, respectively.
Only one ( or ) needs to be indicated.
An alternative to angular designations is a slope
relationship.

 The sense of the force is indicated by an

arrowhead.
For example, in the figure below , the
arrowhead gives the indication that a pulling
force (tension) is being applied to the bracket
at point O.

 By reversing only the arrowhead,we would have a

pushing force (compression) applied on the bracket

with the same magnitude (F 10 k), point of
application (point O), and line of action ( = 22.6
from the horizontal)

Rigid Bodies
A rigid body is a body of matter (called a continuum) that,

theoretically, undergoes no deformation.

Principle of Transmissibility
This principle states that the external effects on a

body (cart) remain unchanged when a force F1

acting at point A is replaced by a force F2 of
equal magnitude at point B, provided that both
forces have the same sense and line of action.

External and Internal Forces

External forces represent the action of other

bodies on the rigid body.

Withdrawal force on a nail

External forces on the nail.

 This internal force R is responsible for keeping

the nail from pulling apart.

Internal resisting forces on the nail.

Types of Force Systems

Force systems are often identified by the

type or types of systems on which they act.

CollinearAll forces acting along the

same straight line.

One intelligent hiker observing three other

hikers dangling from a rope.

CoplanarAll forces acting in the

same plane.

Forces in a buttress system.

Coplanar, parallelAll forces are

parallel and act in the same plane.

A beam supported by a series of columns.

Coplanar, concurrentAll forces

intersect at a common point and lie in the
same plane.

Loads applied to a roof truss.

Noncoplanar, parallelAll forces are

parallel to each other, but not all lie in the
same plane.

Column loads in a concrete building.

Noncoplanar, concurrentAll forces

intersect at a common point but do not all
lie in the same plane.

One component of a three-dimensional

space frame.

Noncoplanar, nonconcurrentAll
forces are skewed.

Array of forces acting simultaneously

Resolution of Forces into Rectangular

Components
A reverse effect of vector addition is the

resolution of a vector into two perpendicular

components.
Components of a vector (or force) are usually
perpendicular to each other and are called
rectangular components.
The x and y axes of a rectangular coordinate
system are most often assumed to be horizontal
and vertical, respectively; however, they may be
chosen in any two mutually perpendicular
directions for convenience

Resolution of Forces into Rectangular

Components
A force F with a direction from the horizontal x axis can be

resolved into its rectangular components Fx and Fy .

Both Fx and Fy are trigonometric functions of F and ,
where Fx = F cos ; Fy = F sin

In Summary: (Notes Set 2)

Characteristics

Forces have a point of application tail of vector

size units of lb, K, N, kN
direction to a reference system, sense indicated by an

arrow
Classifications include: Static & Dynamic
Structural types separated primarily into Dead Load and
Live Load with further identification
as wind, earthquake (seismic), impact, et

Rigid Body
Ideal material that doesnt deform
Forces on rigid bodies can be
internal within or at connections
or external applied
Rigid bodies can translate (move in a straight line)
or rotate (change angle)

If the truck moves forward: it translates

If the truck gets put up on a jack: it rotates

 Transmissibility: We can replace a force at a point on a

body by that force on another point on the body along the

line of action of the force.

For the truck:

The same external forces will result in the same

conditions for motion
Transmissibility applies to EXTERNAL forces. INTERNAL
forces respond differently when an external force is
moved.
DEFINITION: 2D Structure - A structure that is flat and
may contain a plane of symmetry.
All forces on this structure are in the same plane as the
structure.

Internal and External

Internal forces occur within a member or between bodies
within a system
External forces represent the action of other bodies or
gravity on the rigid body

Force System Types

Collinear all forces along the same line
Coplanar all forces in the same plane
Space out there
Further classification as
Concurrent all forces go through the same point
Parallel all forces are parallel

Graphical Addition
Parallelogram law: when adding two vectors acting at a
point, the result is the diagonal of the parallelogram
The tip-to-tail method
is another graphical
way to add
vectors.
With 3 (three) or more vectors, successive application
of the parallelogram law will find the
resultant OR drawing all the vectors tip-to-tail in any
order will find the resultant.

Rectangular Force Components and Addition

It is convenient to resolve forces into perpendicular
components (at 90).
Parallelogram law results in a rectangle.
Triangle rule results in a right triangle.

 When 90 < < 270, Fx is negative

When 180 < < 360, Fy is negative

When 0 < < 90 and 180 < < 270, tan is positive
When 90 < < 180 and 270 < < 360, tan is negative

Addition (analytically) can be done by adding all the x

components for a resultant x component and adding all the y

components for a resultant y component.

CAUTION: An interior angle, , between a vector

and either coordinate axis can be used in the trig

functions. BUT No sign will be provided by the trig
function, which means you must give a sign and
determine if the component is in the x or y direction.
For example, F sin = opposite side, which whould be negative in x!

Steps:
1. GIVEN: Write down whats given (drawing and
numbers).
2. FIND: Write down what you need to find. (resultant
graphically)
3. SOLUTION:
4. Draw the 400 lb and 600 lb forces to scale with tails at 0.
(If the scale isnt given, you must choose one that fits on
your paper, ie. 1 inch = 200 lb.)
5. Draw parallel reference lines at the ends of the vectors.
6. Draw a line from O to the intersection of the reference
lines
7. Measure the length of the line
8. Convert the line length by the scale into pounds (by
multiplying by the force measure and dividing by the scale
value, ie X inches * 200 lb / 1 inch).

 Alternate solution:

4. Draw one vector

5. Draw the other vector at the TIP of the first one (away

from the tip).

6. Draw a line from 0 to the tip of the final vector and
continue at step 7

2.8 A clothesline with a maximum tension of 150#

is anchored to a wall by means of an eye screw.
If the eye screw is capable of carrying a
horizontal pulling force (withdrawal force) of
40# per inch of penetration, how many inches L
should the threads be embedded into the wall?

2.10 An anchoring device is subjected to the

three forces as shown. Determine analytically
the resultant force the anchor must resist.

 2.11 A block of weight W = 500 N is

supported by a cable CD, which in turn is

suspended by cables AC and BC.
Determine the required tension forces TCA
and TCB so that the resultant force at point
C equals zero.