Have you ever had something break when you were trying to use it? Material will break when we apply more force than it can handle.
Everyday we use structures or physical objects to carry forces for us. This can be in the form of furniture, consumer products, transportation, buildings, toys, machines etc. As engineers we are expected to build new structures all the time. When designing the structure or object for a specific task we need the material to be strong enough to handle the forces involved with its intended use.
When these external forces are being applied with no movement/acceleration we can use an equilibrium analysis to understand how they will translate to internal forces that the material will have to support. Then we can select a material strong enough to withstand every day use with an added factor of safety.
In your original post, include the following:
- Choose a structure or object and explain how to construct a free-body diagram (FBD) of part or all of it.
- Show your structure/object and the free body diagram you created for it.
- Explain the difference between the external forces on the structure and the internal forces translating through the material itself.
- Make sure to choose a real-world example that is different from your peers!