Mechanics: 

The physical science which deals with the effects of forces on objects.
OR
The Branch of the physical sciences that is concerned with the state of rest or motion
of bodies that are subjected to the action of forces.

Branches of Mechanics: 
General Branches:
1. Rigid Body Mechanics,
2. Deformable Body Mechanics
3. Fluid Mechanics.
Rigid Body Mechanics is divided into two Parts:

Statics,  
Statics concerns the equilibrium of bodies under the action of forces.
OR
Statics deals with the equilibrium of bodies that are either at rest or move with a
constant velocity.

Dynamics,  
Dynamics concerns the motion of bodies.
OR
Dynamics is concerned with the accelerated motion of bodies.

Fundamental Concepts: 

Basic Quantities 

Length: 
Length is used to locate the position of a point in space and thereby describe the
size of a physical system.

Time: 
Time is the measure of the succession of events and is a basic quantity in dynamics.

Mass: 
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 a quantity of matter in a body.

Force: 
Force is considered as a ‘push’ or ‘pull’ exerted by one body on another. Force is
completely characterized by its magnitude, direction, and point of application.
Examples 
Bodies in direct contact: a person pushing a wall.
 
 
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Bodies physically separated: gravitational, electrical or magnetic forces.

Idealizations:
Models or idealizations are used in mechanics in order to simplify the application of
theory.

Space: 
Space is a geometric region occupied by the bodies whose positions are described
by linear or angular measurements relative to coordinate system.

Particle: 
A Particle is a body of negligible dimensions. A particle has a mass, but a size that
can be neglected.
For example, earth is insignificant when compared to the size of its orbit; therefore
earth can be modelled as a particle when studying orbital motion.

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, both before and
after applying a load. In most cases the actual deformations occurring in structures,
machines, mechanisms, and the like are relatively small, and the rigid-body
assumption is suitable for analysis.

Concentrated force 
A Concentrated force represents the effect of a loading which is assumed to act at a
point on a body. We can represent a load by a concentrated force, provided the area
over which the load is applied is very small compared to the overall size of the body.
Examples in Figures:

Scalars and Vectors: 

Scalar 
Scalar is any positive or negative physical quantity that can be completely specified
by its magnitude.
 
 
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For example, length, volume, mass, speed, energy, density and time.

Vector 
Vector is a physical quantity that requires both a magnitude and a direction for its
complete description.
For example, displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, and moment.

Vector Representation: 
A vector is shown graphically by an arrow, the length of the arrow represents the
magnitude, and the angle θ between the vector and a fixed axis defines the direction
and the head or tip of arrow indicates the sense of direction.

Types of Vectors: 

Free Vector 
A Free Vector is one whose action is not confined to or associated with a unique line
in space.

Sliding Vector 
A Sliding Vector has a unique line of action in space but not a unique point of
application.

Fixed Vector 
A Fixed Vector is one for which a unique point of application is specified.

Newton’s Laws of Motion: 

First Law:  
A particle remains at rest or continues to move with uniform velocity (in a straight line
with a constant speed) if there is no unbalanced force acting on it.

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

Third Law: 
The forces of action and reaction between interacting bodies are equal in magnitude,
opposite in direction, and collinear. (they lie on the same line).

 
 
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Fundamental Units: 
Four fundamental quantities called dimensions:
Length, Mass, Force, Time.

System of Units: 
Although there are a number of different systems of units, two systems are most
commonly used in science and technology:

SI Units  
The International Systems of Units, abbreviated as SI.

U.S. Customary Units 
Also called British System or foot-pound-second (FPS) system. This system will in
time be replaced by SI units.

Summary of Two Systems of Units: 

Primary Standards: 

Mass:  
The kilogram is defined as the mass of a specific platinum-iridium cylinder kept at
International Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris, France.

Length: 
The meter is defined as 1 650 763 .73 wavelengths of a specific radiation of the
krypton-86 atom.

Time: 
The second is defined as the duration of 9 192 631 770 periods of the radiation of a
specific state of the cesium 133 atom.

Derived Units: 
newton:  
One newton (N) is the force required to give a mass of 1 kg an acceleration of 1m/s2.

 
 
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slug: 
One slug is the mass which is given an acceleration of 1ft/sec2 when acted on by a
force of 1 lb.

Important Unit Conversions: 
1 lb = 4.4482 N
1 slug = 14.594 kg
1 lbm = 0.45359 kg
1 ft = 0.305 m

Newton’s Law of Gravitation: 
Newton postulated a law governing the gravitational attraction between any two
particles. Stated mathematically,
m1m2
F =G
Where, r2
F = the mutual force of gravitation between two particles,
G = a universal constant of gravitation, from experiments,
m3
G = 6.673 × 10−11
(kg .s 2 )
m1,m2 = mass of the two particles,
r = distance between the centres of the particles

Weight of a Body: 
The gravitational force between the earth and a body located at or near the earth’s
surface is termed as weight.
If we assume the earth to be a non rotating sphere of constant density and having
mass m2 = Me, then if r is the distance between the earth’s centre and the particle,
we have weight W of a particle having mass m1= m,
mM e
Me W =G
Letting, g =G r2
r2
Yields, W= mg
Comparing with F=ma, we see that g is acceleration due to gravity.

Gravitational Acceleration, g: 
The standard value for gravitational acceleration g is its value at sea level and at
45o latitude.
In two systems of units these values are:

 
 
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In SI Units, g = 9.806 65 m/s2
In U.S. Customary Units, g = 32.1740 ft/sec2
The approximate values of 9.81 m/s2 and 32.2 ft/sec2 in both systems of units
respectively, are sufficiently accurate for vast majority of engineering calculations.

Solar System Constants: 
Mass of earth, Me = 5.976 x 1024 kg
Mass of moon = Me x 0.0123 kg
Moon’s mean distance to earth (centre to centre) = 384 398 km

 
 
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