Statics and Dynamics: Mechanical Engineering Practice Questions and Answers
1. What is static equilibrium?
Answer: A condition where the sum of forces and moments on a body is zero.
2. State the two conditions of equilibrium.
Answer: Sum of all forces and sum of all moments must be zero.
3. What is a free body diagram (FBD)?
Answer: A graphical illustration used to visualize the applied forces, moments, and reactions on a
body.
4. What is a moment?
Answer: The turning effect of a force about a point or axis.
5. Define the principle of transmissibility.
Answer: The condition where the external effect of a force on a rigid body is unchanged if the point
of application is moved along its line of action.
6. What is a resultant force?
Answer: A single force that has the same effect as a combination of forces.
7. What is the moment of a force about a point?
Answer: It is the product of the force and the perpendicular distance from the point to the line of
action of the force.
8. Define couple.
Answer: Two equal and opposite forces whose lines of action do not coincide, creating a pure
rotation.
9. What is the centroid?
Answer: The point where the entire area or mass of a body is considered to be concentrated.
10. What is the center of gravity?
Answer: The point through which the resultant gravitational force acts on a body.
11. Define friction.
Answer: The resistance to motion of one object moving relative to another.
12. What is the coefficient of friction?
Answer: The ratio of the force of friction to the normal force.
13. State Lami's theorem.
Answer: If three coplanar forces are in equilibrium, each force is proportional to the sine of the angle
between the other two forces.
14. What is a truss?
Answer: A structure composed of members joined at their ends to form a rigid framework.
15. What is the method of joints?
Answer: A technique used to find forces in truss members by analyzing one joint at a time.
16. What is the method of sections?
Answer: A method to determine internal forces in truss members by cutting through the truss.
17. What is a support reaction?
Answer: Forces and/or moments developed at supports to keep a structure in equilibrium.
18. Define internal forces.
Answer: Forces that develop within a structure to resist external loads.
19. What are statically determinate structures?
Answer: Structures whose reactions and internal forces can be found using only the equations of
equilibrium.
20. What are statically indeterminate structures?
Answer: Structures requiring additional compatibility equations beyond the equations of equilibrium.
21. What is Newton's second law?
Answer: The acceleration of a body is proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely
proportional to its mass (F=ma).
22. Define kinematics.
Answer: The study of motion without considering the forces causing it.
23. Define kinetics.
Answer: The study of motion considering the forces causing it.
24. What is displacement?
Answer: The change in position of a point or body.
25. What is velocity?
Answer: The rate of change of displacement with respect to time.
26. What is acceleration?
Answer: The rate of change of velocity with respect to time.
27. Define projectile motion.
Answer: Motion of an object thrown into space, subject only to gravity.
28. What is circular motion?
Answer: Movement of an object along a circular path.
29. What is centripetal force?
Answer: The force directed toward the center of a circular path that keeps an object in circular
motion.
30. What is impulse?
Answer: Change in momentum resulting from a force applied over a period of time.
31. State the work-energy principle.
Answer: The work done by all forces acting on a particle equals the change in its kinetic energy.
32. What is kinetic energy?
Answer: The energy possessed by a body due to its motion.
33. What is potential energy?
Answer: The energy possessed by a body due to its position or configuration.
34. Define momentum.
Answer: The product of a body's mass and velocity.
35. State the principle of conservation of momentum.
Answer: In a closed system, the total momentum remains constant.
36. What is angular velocity?
Answer: The rate of change of angular displacement.
37. What is angular acceleration?
Answer: The rate of change of angular velocity.
38. Define rotational inertia.
Answer: A measure of an object's resistance to change in its rotation.
39. What is torque?
Answer: A force that causes rotation.
40. What is the equation for torque?
Answer: Torque = Moment of inertia × Angular acceleration.
41. What is D'Alembert's principle?
Answer: An extension of Newton's second law used in dynamics, introducing inertial force to make
dynamic problems solvable as static ones.
42. What is simple harmonic motion?
Answer: Oscillatory motion under a restoring force proportional to displacement.
43. What is damping?
Answer: The reduction of oscillation amplitude over time.
44. What is resonance?
Answer: An increase in oscillation amplitude when the frequency of applied force matches the
system's natural frequency.
45. What is relative motion?
Answer: The calculation of the motion of an object with respect to another moving object.
46. What is a rigid body?
Answer: An object that does not deform under stress and maintains a fixed shape and size.
