Equilibrium of Rigid Bodies and Free Body Diagrams

The conditions for equilibrium, the centre of gravity and the stability of rotational equilibrium, followed by stress, strain and the elastic behaviour of real materials. Diagram driven throughout, which makes it easy to follow where each force acts.

M. F. McGraw, Austin Community College

Defines forces and moments as vectors, builds the free body diagram from them, and then uses the equations of static equilibrium to solve for reaction forces and moments. The worked cases come from optical mounting, where a millimetre of unwanted motion matters.

J. H. Burge, University of Arizona

Opens with a step by step procedure for drawing a free body diagram, then covers types of supports and their reactions, Varignon's theorem, moments and couples, and the equilibrium of rigid bodies in both two and three dimensions. Ends with virtual work.

Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology

Works the lever law and its generalised form, then applies both to a suspended rod, a person standing on a hill and the forces inside a knee. An appendix proves that the torques about any two points are equal for a body in static equilibrium.

Peter Dourmashkin

A tight summary of the equilibrium conditions for a rigid object, stated first as vector equations and then reduced to the two dimensional case you will actually use. Almost every page is a solved problem rather than theory.

David Murdock