Elements of theoretical mechanics; being the substance of a course of lectures on statics and dynamics - Softcover

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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1827 Excerpt: ...highest importance then that we should carefully study them, and endeavour to acquire a clear and accurate conception of their import. 289. Explanation of the first.--If two bodies be loosely con-nected, and so situated that the one supports the other; and if, by a sudden impulse, the supporting body be put in motion, the other will be left behind; and if, on the other hand, they be both in motion with a common velocity, and the un-r dermost be suddenly stopped, the uppermost will go on in the same direction in which it previously moved. Thus, if a vessel of water be suspended by a rope, and we strike it towards the one side, the fluid, from its slight connection with the vessel, will tend to remain in its place, and will be spilled over that side on which the blow was struck; and if, while the whole is in motion, the vessel be suddenly stopped, it will be spilled over the side towards which the motion is directed. Thus also, when a person stands upright in a boat which is suddenly pushed off from the shore, he feels a tendency to fall over the stern, and he falls towards the prow when the boat in motion with considerable velocity strikes unexpectedly against a bank. An instance of the operation of this law is exhibited whenever one body is detached from another while in motion. The detached body is always projected with the velocity that was common to the two at the instant of separation. A fall is almost unavoidable in springing to the ground from a carriage, when dragged by horses at full speed. The danger arises from the tendency of the rest of the body to continue the motion when the feet are stopped by the ground, and would be much less could a person in such circumstances alight on a sheet of smooth ice of some extent. The whole body would then conti...

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