12 CH"'PfE~ 1 G EN~Ir"'l P ~ I NC I PlES

1.6 General Procedure for Analysis

The mos t efkeli,'e way of learning the principles of engineering mechanics
is to soll'l! probll'lIu. To be successful at thi s. it is important to alw3Ys
present th e work in a logiclll and oflkrly /lUI",,,:r . as sugges ted b)' the
following sequence of steps:
• Read Ihe problem carefully an d Iry 10 correiate the aclual ph ysical
situation wilh Ihe Iheory studied,
• Tabulate Ihc problem dala and draw an)' nl.'cess.u y di agra ms.
• Apply the rcle,'ant principles. ge nerally in mathematical form. When
writing any cquations.. be sure the y ;Ire dimcnsionally homogcncous.
• Solve th e neceSS'IT)' equalions, and reporlt hc answe r with nO more
th an three signifkant figures.
When soh'ing problems. do lhc work as • Study thc answer wi th tcchnic'll judgment and common sensc to
ocatly as possible. Being OC3tw<l l stinlulacc determine whethcr or not it seems reasonable.
dear and orderly thinking. and vice \'CI'Sa.

Important Points

• Statics is th e study of bodies thaI arc al rest or move with

constant veloci ty.
• A particle has a mass but a size thaI can be neglected .
• A rigid bod)' docs not deform under toad.
• Concentrated forces arc assumed to act at a poi nt on a bod)'.
• Newton's Ihree lawS of motion should be memo rized.
• Mass is measure of a quantit ), of maHer that docs not change
from one location to 3nother.
• Weight refe rs to Ihe gravit ationa l attractiOn of the eanh on a
body or quan tity of mass. Its magnitude depends upon the
elevation at which the mass is located.
• In the SI system th e unit of force. the newton. is a derived unit.
The meter. second, and kilogram are base units..
• Prefixes G, M.I:. m. j.I., and n arc used to re prese nt large and small
numerical <Iuantilies. Their exponen tial size should be known,
along wilh the rules for using thc SI units.
• Perform nume rical calculations ",ilh several Significa nt figures.
and then repon the final answer to three significant figures.
• Al gebraic mani pulations of an equation ca n be checked in part by
verifying that the equation rcmains dimensionally homogeneo us.
• Know the rules for rounding off numbers.