Tag
Free Body Diagram
Entries tagged free body diagram.
3 entries
Concept
Loads, load paths, and free-body thinking
A load path is the actual route a force travels, member by member, from where it is applied to the ground or support that finally absorbs it, and free-body thinking is the method of isolating one member at a time to check whether that route can carry what is asked of it.
7 min
ConceptNormal force and contact constraints
The normal force is the perpendicular push a rigid surface supplies, adjusted to whatever value stops an object from passing through it, not a fixed force equal to weight.
7 min
ConceptTension in strings and cables
Tension is the pulling force transmitted along a flexible connector such as a string or cable, uniform along an ideal massless, frictionless length and solved for by applying Newton's second law to each body it connects.
7 min