This book was written at Wikibooks, a free online community where people write open-content textbooks. Any person with internet access is welcome to participate in the creation and improvement of this book. Because this book is continuously evolving, there are no finite "versions" or "editions" of this book. Permanent links to known good versions of the pages may be provided.
Statics is the branch of mechanics concerned with the study of forces and the effect of forces on a non-deformable, or rigid, system when the system is in a state of equilibrium.
This course is a crucial prerequisite for later areas, such as Dynamics and Properties of Materials. It utilizes principles of physics and calculus. It is fundamental in many different branches of engineering, from mechanical to civil engineering, and the principles of equilibrium, moment of inertia, and center of gravity will be revisited in more advanced fields. It is because an understanding of these topics is so crucial that statics does not cover a wide range of topics. Every problem will deal with some combination of two equations: the net forces being equal to zero, and/or net moments being equal to zero.
Who is This Book For?
This book is for undergraduate students pursuing, or thinking about pursuing, a degree in engineering. As specified early, statics is needed in almost every field of engineering. It is not an introductory course, however. Statics does not attempt to reinvent the wheel, and is built firmly on the foundation of Physics. Newton's Laws are essential to statics. Mathematically, one should have a firm grip on vector algebra, though it is possible to solve many simple problems without the use of vectors. While it would benefit a student to understand calculus concepts, like the ability to calculate an area or a volume, most statics problems will involve simple geometries.
How is this book organized
This book is organized to introduce concepts that will be later used in Dynamics and Properties of Materials. As such, it will begin by reviewing over vector mathematics and then introducing simple concepts, like Newton's Second Law, and then increasing the ways with which those concepts work together. Mathematically, this will involve increasing the number of forces, increasing the number of dimensions, and then expanding particle equilibrium to Rigid Body Equilibrium and Structural Equilibrium.
Finally, we will go over Moments of Inertia and Center of Mass. These concepts will be critical in higher level disciplines and a firm understanding will allow you to analyze more complex problems when the concepts of stress, strain, and acceleration are introduced.