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According to Newtonss Second Law, force equals mass times acceleration. When analyzing a
truss, it is assumed the truss isnt moving, and therefore the sum of all forces must equal zero.
This means, the total force acting to the left must be equal to the total force acting to the right,
and the total forces acting up must be equal to the total force acting down. When this is true
for an object, it is said that object is in static equilibrium. A truss is always considered to be in
static equilibrium, as well as each member within the truss.
Loads:
Designing a Truss:
Any change in loads has a chain reaction throughout the truss, which changes all the internal
forces. Using only two force members and assuming static equilibrium allows engineers to
determine how any external load will effect each member.
Because one weak member breaking can destroy the whole truss, trusses are designed to
distrubute internal forces as evenly as possible, and therefore increase the maxium load the
truss can support.