Basic Concept

The basic concepts of engineering mechanics are length, time, mass, and force.

Consider an object moving from point A to B. The distance traveled is described by length using coordinates relative to a reference point.

Length also describes geometrical properties of physical systems, while time measures the succession of an event like the traveling time between points A and B.

Mass is a measure of the quantity of matter in an object that does not change with location, while force is considered as the action of one body over another, like push or pull, or gravitational attraction.

For theoretical analysis, engineering mechanics uses a few assumptions. Firstly, an object is considered as a particle with mass, whose size can be neglected.

Secondly, irrespective of its material and load applied, the particle is considered as a rigid body where the deformation is neglected.

Finally, the applied load is represented as a concentrated force acting at a point on an object.