Chapter 4: Rigid Bodies

This is arguably the most fundamental chapter for Statics. Learn these concepts and the next two chapters will make a lot of sense. Without this chapter, the next chapters will be much more confusing. When people talk about Statics, this chapter contains the concepts they are talking about. You will use free-body diagrams and the equilibrium equations in many other courses. Here are the sections in this Chapter:

• • 4.1 External Forces – Types of external forces
  • 4.2 Rigid Body Free Body Diagrams – How to model problems to be able to solve them ** very important section
  • 4.3 Rigid Body Equilibrium Equations – How to apply what you learned on particles to rigid bodies
  • 4.4 Friction and Impending Motion – Special cases of an external force looking at slipping and tipping
  • 4.5 Examples  – Examples from your peers

Here are the important equations for this chapter.