NO. DE PÁGINAS: 450

CONTENIDO:

The main objective of a first course in mechanics should be to develop in fue engineering student fue ability to analyze any problem in a simple and logicaI manner and to apply to its solution a few, well-understood basic principles. It is hoped that this text, designed for fue first course in statics offered in the sophomore year, and fue volume that follows, Vector Mechanics for Engineers: Dynamics, will help the instructor achieve thisgoal. Vector aIgebra is introduced early in the text and used in the presentation and the discussion of the fundamental principles of mechanics. Vector methods are also used to solve many problems, particularly three-dimensional problems where their application results in a simpler and more concise soIution. The emphasis in this text, however, remains on fue correct understanding of fue principles of mechanics and on their application to the solution of engineering problems, and vector algebra is presented chiefly as a convenient tool. One of the characteristics of the approach used in these volumes is that fue mechanics of particles has béen clearly separated from fue mechanics of rigid bodies. This approach makes it possible to consider simple practicaI applications at an early stage and to postpone the introduction of more difficult concepts. In this volume, for example, the statics of particles is treated first (Chap. 2); after fue rules of addition and subtraction of vectors have been introduced, the principle of equilibrium of a particle is immediately applied to practical situations involving, only concurrent forces. The statics of rigid bodies is considered in Chaps. 3 and 4. In Chap. 3, the vector and scalar products of two vectors are introduced and used to define fue moment of a force about a point and about an axis. The presentation of these new concepts is followed by a thorough and rigorous discussion of equivalent systems of forces leading, in Chap. 4, to many practicaI applications involving fue equilibrium of rigid bodies.