Don Honorio Ventura State University

Bacolor, Pampanga

College of Engineering and Architecture

EM 222 (DYNAMICS OF RIGID BODIES)

Module No. 1: Introduction to Engineering Mechanics

Objectives:
1. To introduce the subject EM 222: “Dynamics of Rigid Bodies” to students and its relation to
Engineering Mechanics.
2. To discuss the overview, introduction, and fundamental concept of Dynamics.
3. To solve problems about Rectilinear Motion by applying the formulas.

ENGINEERING MECHANICS
Mechanics is the study of forces that act on bodies and the resultant motion that those bodies experience.
With roots in physics and mathematics, Engineering Mechanics is the basis of all the mechanical sciences:
civil engineering, materials science and engineering, mechanical engineering, aeronautical and aerospace
and engineering.

Two (2) Branches of Engineering Mechanics

Statics is the branch of mechanics that is concerned with analysis of loads acting on physical systems that
do not experience acceleration, but rather, are in static equilibrium with their environment.

Dynamics, branch of physical science and subdivision of mechanics that is concerned with the motion of
material objects in relation to the physical factors that affect them: force, mass, momentum, energy.

Dynamics has two distinct parts: kinematics, which is the study of motion without reference to the forces
which cause motion, and kinetics, which relates the action of forces on bodies to their resulting motions.

DEVELOPMENT OF DYNAMICS
The beginning of a rational understanding of dynamics is credited to Galileo (1564-1642), who made
careful observations concerning bodies in free fall, motion on an inclined plane and motion of the
pendulum. He was largely responsible for bringing a scientific approach to the investigation of physical
problems.

Perhaps Galileo’s greatest contribution to physics was his formulation of the concept of inertia: an object
in a state of motion possesses an “inertia” that causes it to remain in that state of motion unless an external
force acts on it. To arrive at this conclusion, which will form the cornerstone of Newton’s laws of motion
(indeed, it will become Newton’s First Law of Motion), Galileo had to abstract from what he, and everyone
else saw.

Isaac Newton (1642-1727), guided by Galileo’s work, was able to make an accurate formulation of the
laws of motion and, thus, to place dynamics on a sound basis.

NEWTON’S THREE LAWS

NEWTON’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION

A body at rest will remain at rest and a body in motion will remain in motion (in a straight line with a
constant speed) unless it is acted upon by an external (unbalanced) force.

NEWTON’S SECOND LAW OF MOTION

The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to its mass.
 EM 222 MODULE 1: Introduction to Dynamics 2nd Semester S.Y. 2022 – 2023

Note: Newton’s second law forms the basis for most of the analysis in dynamics. For a particle of mass m
subjected to a resultant force F, the law may be stated as:
𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
Where: F is the force, m is the mass and a is the acceleration

NEWTON’S THIRD LAW OF MOTION

The third law of motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

BASIC DEFINITION OF TERMS

POSITION
It is the location of the particle with respect to the chosen reference point.

MOTION
Represents the continual change in an object position.

DISTANCE
Distance is a scalar quantity that refers to “how much ground an object has covered” during its motion.

DISPLACEMENT
Displacement is defined as the change in position of an object. It is a vector quantity and has a direction and
magnitude. It is represented as an arrow that points from the starting position to the final position.

SPEED
Tells the rate of change of motion of an object. It doesn’t care about the direction. (Scalar quantity)
𝑆𝑝𝑒𝑒𝑑 = 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒/𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

VELOCITY
Tells the rate of change of motion of an object. It ascertains the object’s speed and the direction it takes
while moving. (Vector quantity)
𝑉𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 = 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡/𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

INSTANTANEOUS VELOCITY
The quantity that tells us how fast an object is moving anywhere along its path is the instantaneous
velocity, usually simply called velocity. It is the average velocity between two points on the path in the limit
that the time (and therefore the displacement) between the two points approaches zero. To illustrate this
idea mathematically, we need to express position x as a continuous function of t denoted by x(t). The
𝑥(𝑡2 )−𝑥(𝑡1 )
expression for the average velocity between two points using this notation is 𝑣̅ = 𝑡2 −𝑡1
.

To find the instantaneous velocity at any position, we let 𝑡1 = 𝑡 and 𝑡2 = 𝑡 + ∆𝑡.

After inserting these expressions into the equation for the average velocity and taking the limit ∆𝑡 → 0∆𝑡 →
0, we find the expression for the instantaneous velocity:
𝑥(𝑡 + ∆𝑡) − 𝑥(𝑡) 𝑑𝑥(𝑡)
𝑣(𝑡) = lim =
∆𝑡→0 ∆𝑡 𝑑𝑡

The instantaneous velocity of an object is the limit of the average velocity as the elapsed time approaches
zero, or the derivative of x with respect to t:
𝑑
𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑥(𝑡)
𝑑𝑡

AVERAGE VELOCITY
Average velocity is the average rate of change of position (or displacement) with respect to time over an
interval.
 EM 222 MODULE 1: Introduction to Dynamics 2nd Semester S.Y. 2022 – 2023

𝒙𝟐 − 𝒙𝟏 ∆𝒙
𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒗𝒆𝒍𝒐𝒄𝒊𝒕𝒚 = =
𝒕𝟐 − 𝒕𝟏 ∆𝒕

ACCELERATION
Tells how fast the velocity changes under a period. It is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with
respect to time. It is a vector quantity.
𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦/𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒

𝒗𝟐 − 𝒗𝟏 ∆𝒗
𝒂𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = =
𝒕𝟐 − 𝒕𝟏 ∆𝒕

𝒅𝟐 𝒙 𝒅𝒗
𝒊𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒂𝒏𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒂𝒄𝒄𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 = =
𝒅𝒕𝟐 𝒅𝒕

RECTILINEAR MOTION
Linear Motion Rectilinear Motion

An object is said to be in a linear motion when the An object is said to be in a rectilinear motion when
object moves in a straight line. two objects are moving in a straight line and are
parallel to each other.

There are three types of rectilinear motion, and

There are two types of linear motion, and they are they are uniform rectilinear motion, uniformly
uniform motion and non-uniform motion. accelerated rectilinear motion and rectilinear
movement with non-uniform acceleration.

Athlete running 200m along the straight track. Elevator movement is an example of rectilinear
motion.

Rectilinear motion is another name for straight-line motion. This type of motion describes the movement
of a particle or a body.

A body is said to experience rectilinear motion if any two particles of the body travel the same distance
along two parallel straight lines. The figures below illustrate rectilinear motion for a particle and body.

THREE TYPES OF RECTILINEAR MOTION

There are three types of rectilinear motion, and they are:

Uniform rectilinear motion: When an object travels at a constant speed with zero acceleration it is known
as uniform rectilinear motion.

Uniformly accelerated rectilinear motion: When an object travels at an irregular speed and acceleration
it is known as a rectilinear movement with non-uniform acceleration.

𝒗𝒇 = 𝒗𝒊 + 𝒂𝒕

𝟏
𝒔 = 𝒗𝒊 𝒕 + 𝒂𝒕𝟐
𝟐

𝒗𝒊 𝟐 = 𝒗𝒇 𝟐 + 𝟐𝒂𝒔
 EM 222 MODULE 1: Introduction to Dynamics 2nd Semester S.Y. 2022 – 2023

Where:
𝑠 = distance/displacement
𝑣𝑖 = initial velocity
𝑣𝑓 = final velocity
𝑎 = acceleration
𝑡 = time
𝑔 = acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/𝑠 2 ; 32.2 ft/𝑠 2 )

SAMPLE PROBLEMS
1. A body starts moving with a velocity of 3m/s and moves in a straight line motion with uniform
acceleration. After 5 seconds of time, it has gained the velocity of 5.5 m/s. Find the uniform
acceleration and the distance travelled in 10 seconds.
2. Motorists A and B, starting at the same time, approached each other from points C and D,
respectively, 150m apart on a straight road. Motorist A has an initial speed of 72 kph and
decelerates at the rate of 2 m/𝑠 2 . Motorist B has an initial speed of 18 kph and accelerates at the
rate of 1 m/𝑠 2 .
a. How much time will they have traveled before they meet?
b. How far from C will they meet?
c. What is their relative speed when they meet?
3. A particle moves in a straight line that is expressed as 𝑣 = 4𝑡 3 + 2𝑡 2 m/s where “t” is in seconds.
Determine its position and acceleration when 𝑡 = 4. When 𝑡 = 0, 𝑥 = 0.

Reference:
1. Beer and Johnston. Vector Mechanics for Engineers
2. Dynamics,7th SI ed. McGraw-Hill, 2003