Introduction to Dynamics

This book an “Introduction to Dynamics” is intended to be used by sophomore or junior students after they have taken Statics and possibly Mechanics of Materials.  Comparing the content of Dynamics to that of Statics shows that Dynamics is a much more difficult course.  Dynamics requires students to use mathematical tools that include: Vector cross and dot products, Vector algebra, Law of sines and law of cosines, Chain and product rules of differentiation, Differentiation and integration of elementary functions, Area integrals of simple functions,  Calculus and algebra in Cartesian, tangential and cylindrical coordinates.

In addition Dynamics includes many different concepts involving energy, momentum and impulse, including conservation of all three of these quantities.  The student must learn to solve for linear and angular velocities and accelerations in three different coordinate systems.  All in all Dynamics is a challenging course for students to master and a challenging course for instructors to effectively teach.

Dynamics is divided into two different topics; kinematics and kinetics.  Kinematics only involves the geometry of the path of an object, which may be a particle or a two or three dimensional rigid body.  Forces are not involved in kinematic analyzes.  Kinematics deals with the motion of bodies without regard to the forces that are required to produce that motion.  The student will use differential and integral calculus in solving kinematics problems.

Kinetics is more complex, because the student must consider the forces acting on the particle or rigid body and use Newton’s second law to determine its acceleration, velocity and position.  In addition concepts such as energy, momentum, impulse and conservation of these quantities are employed to solve certain types of problems.

This book differs in that chapters 2 through 9 open with a concept problem to encourage the student’s thought processes before introducing them to a multitude of equations.  We believe the students with background in Physics courses and early Mechanics courses will be able to follow these basic concept problems prior to the introduction of the basic equations required for their solution.  The concept problems are followed by non-technical discussion dealing with the topic upon which the concept problem is based.  The technical discussions deal with current events that are related to the technical content in the chapter and are intended to couple the course content with real life.

The book has an introductory chapter and three Chapters that cover the kinematics of particle and rigid body motion.  

The book has five Chapters that cover the kinetics of particle and rigid body motion.