Statics

This is the instructor’s resource page for Statics at Lee University. Use of this page subject to the terms and conditions of this site.

The Basics

• Syllabus (Spring 2025)
• Course Policies
• My profile on Meet the Prof
• A little more detailed profile about me and my career in engineering
• The legacy site of the department of the Church of God I worked at for 13 1/2 years

Textbooks, Main and Supplementary

Textbooks are expensive, this course is no exception. Many students rent their textbooks only to discover they vanish with DRM when they need them the most. This is to help you get around that problem. Book titles in bold are available in print.

• Course Textbook: Hibbler, Statics, 15th Edition
• Downloadable Textbooks
  • Smith’s Mechanic (1863.) My great-grandfather’s (at right) Statics and Dynamics textbook at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. one of the premier engineering schools in the U.S. It paid off: he had a successful career as a naval architect.
  • Analytical Mechanics for Engineers (1921) by Fred Seely and and Newton Ensign. Seely was a fixture in American engineering textbooks for many years; I had one of his textbooks when pursuing my Master’s in the 1990’s. Includes vector analysis as well.
  • Statics and Dynamics of a Particle (1927) by William Duncan MacMillan. Another classic textbook including vector analysis.
  • Theoretical Mechanics: A Short Course (1988) by S. Targ. Probably the closest thing to the way Statics and Dynamics is taught today.
  • Fundamental of Engineering Mechanics (1962) by L. Levinson.
  • Theoretical Mechanics (1970) by M. Movnin and A. Izrayelit. If I was teaching this course (and Statics) without consideration of American engineering educational conventions and requirements, but only for the material in practice, this is the book I would use.
  • Strength of Materials – Kinasoshvili (1978) A little beyond statics, but covers shear and moment diagrams.
  • Mechanics (1978) by S.P. Strelkov

Topical Articles for Various Parts of the Course, Including the Devotionals

1. General Principles
   • General Principles (slide presentation)
   • Overview of the Units Systems for the MKS and UK/US Gravitational Systems, which are the principal units we will use in this course.
   • A Quick Overview of the CGS System. You won’t have much use for them in this course, but in lab courses like this one it will be important
   • Those Pesky Kilogram-Force Units. Yes, they’re a thing.
   • Computational-Mathematics, where our discussion of significant digits–right at the beginning of the book–comes from
   • Blessed are the Merciful
2. Force and Position Vectors
   • Force and Position Vectors (Slide Presentation)
   • Two Examples of Vector Addition
   • The Tripod Problem: An Example of Vector Forces
   • An Example of 3D Vector Statics With a Simple Truss. We’ll see this example more than once, but the set-up involves the use of vectors, both force and position.
   • Using the Law of Sines in Vector Analysis
   • The Sermon on the Mount: The First Day
   • A Prayer for Social Media
   • Called Out of the Pews: An Experiential Reflection on the Role of the Laity
   • Month of Sundays: Cost
   • When Two or Three are Gathered Together…
   • The Sermon on the Mount: The Eleventh Day, The Four Marks of a Christian
3. Equilibrium of a Particle
   • Equilibrium of a Particle (slide presentation)
   • Solving a Statics Problem Using Linear Algebra
   • An Example of 3D Forces on a Single Point
   • Example of Computing the Resultant of Concurrent Three-Dimensional Forces
   • The Sermon on the Mount: The Fourteenth Day, Reconciliation
   • The Sermon on the Mount: The Sixteenth Day, Christian Simplicity
4. Moments and Force System Resultants
   • Moments and Force System Resultants (slide presentation)
   • An Example of 2D Moment Computation
   • A Vector Triple Product Example
   • Using a Couple to Determine Reactions
   • 3D Equilibrium Using Couples
   • What is a Resultant in Geotechnical Engineering? An example of the use of resultants of distributed forces.
   • The Sermon on the Mount: The Twenty-First Day, Prayer and the Presence of God
   • Safe in the Harbour (Barely!)
   • Month of Sundays: Priority
   • What We Need is a Light Trailer
   • Month of Sundays: Foundation
5. Equilibrium of a Rigid Body
   • Equilibrium of a Rigid Body (Slide Presentation)
   • Analysing a Beam for Reactions
   • An Example of Balancing a Sling Picked-Up Load: the IPH-16
   • Vector Statics and “Old Coot” Statics: An Example
   • Solution of a Simple Pulley Problem
   • An Example of the Reactions of an Arch
   • An Example of 2D Equilibrium
   • When “U and Me” Have Time
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The Thirty-Fifth Day, Beware of All Covetousness
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The Forty-Fifth Day, The Summation of Christian Morality
6. Structural Analysis
   • Structural Analysis (Slide Presentation)
   • An Example of 3D Vector Statics With a Simple Truss. “Part 2” of this example, where we analyse the 3D truss and determine the truss forces and reactions.
   • Stiff Leg Derrick Part II: Truss Analysis
   • An Example of Static Analysis for a Structure/Mechanism
   • Truss Problem Using Method of Joints
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The First Day, The apostles do not understand Christ’s prediction of the mystery of the cross. We fear to follow Jesus to the cross.
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The Second Day, The ambitious demand of the children of Zebedee; the chalice and the cross precede the glory.
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The Third Day, The victory and power of Jesus Christ over death in the resurrection of Lazarus
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The Sixth Day, Jesus Christ is marked as a sign which shall be contradicted.
   • Lessons from the Cotter Bridge
   • The Story of Khalil (Video)
   • Month of Sundays–Truth
7. Internal Forces
   • Internal Forces (slide presentation)
   • “Hand” Solution for the Centre Shaft for the S-834 Impact-Vibration Hammer. An example of a simply supported shaft with point loads.
   • More About Resultants in Geotechnical Engineering
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The Eighth Day, The Three Anointings
   • You Could Just Stand There and Look Stupid
8. Friction
   • Friction (Slide Presentation)
   • An Example of a Self-Locking Wedge: the Vulcan 560 Slide Bar Key
   • Explaining the Relationship Between the Coefficient and the Angle of Friction
   • Example of a Block on a Slope Problem to Illustrate the Effect of Friction
   • Meditations on the Gospel: The Twenty-First Day, Man Clothed in the Omnipotence of God
   • Month of Sundays: Eternity
9. Centre of Gravity and Centroid
   • Centre of Gravity and Centroid (Slide Presentation)
   • Determining the Eccentric Moment, Rotational Inertia and Pendulum Frequency for a Vibratory Eccentric
   • Determining the Centroid of a Wooden Hammer
   • Month of Sundays: Sovereignty
10. Moments of Inertia
    • Moments of Inertia (Slide Presentation)
    • Two Ways of Determining the Mass Moment of Inertia of a Cylinder.
    • Determining the Centroid, Moment of Inertia and Radius of Gyration of an Area
    • Determining the Eccentric Moment, Rotational Inertia and Pendulum Frequency for a Vibratory Eccentric
    • Checking the Soviets: Determining the Bending Moment and Stress, and the Parallel Axis Theorem. An application of the parallel axis theorem.
    • Section Modulus of Pile Hammer Leaders. Another example of the use of the parallel axis theorem.
    • Checking the Soviets: Determining the Eccentric Moment. Yet another example of computing both the eccentric moment (which involves the centre of gravity) and the rotational mass moment of inertia of a section
    • Month of Sundays: Worth

Engineering, Mathematics and Christianity

• If You Really Want to Get Into Trouble, Read the Mediaevals. The story of Georg Cantor and transfinite mathematics, which revolutionised the science
  • The Challenge from Aquinas That Changed Mathematics. Cantor answered that challenge and changed everything.
• Jesus Christ, the Way Up
• Taking the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal. The life of Saint-Venant, a giant in the field of mechanics of materials.

Liturgical Material

Yes, Lee is a Pentecostal school, but in recent times there’s been an interest in liturgical worship. I was raised in that at the church pictured at the right (Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach.)

I did three series on the subject at the North Cleveland Church of God, below are links to the first in each series:

• Liturgy, Pentecost, Wesley and the Book of Common Prayer (Lent 2023)
• Advent Series 2023
• Lent 2024 Series: I Am The Bread of Life (Holy Communion)