<p>What are some helpful hints on how to survive Statics?</p>
<p>Getting close to a higher power. But seriously, the work you put in will reflect what you get out. It is a weeder class, so don’t get discouraged. Also, and this may sound like a ‘duh’ statement, but make sure you really know the material. Try to see the problem. If you have some specific questions the physics forum has a great section that people can help with homework too, so I would try there. Good luck</p>
<p>Do you understand why a door that says “pull” does not open when you push on it? Then you will be fine… It is not difficult.</p>
<p>The sum of all forces equals zero.</p>
<p>And, the sum of all moments equals zero.</p>
<p>I’ve tutored statics for about two years. The course is not too difficult and grasping it is useful for the future. You do not need to see 3-D. You will have to stay organized. You need to know the cross and dot product.</p>
<p>Some general steps I like to take are:
- Draw that picture. No, really, draw it. Don’t argue, draw it.
- Establish local and global coordinate systems.
- Label the forces moments, etc…
–Understand HOW to deal with distributed loads and boundary conditions.
–Totally understand shear forces, normal forces, moments - Ultimately, everything sums to 0. Moments and forces.
- Establish positions and create position vectors.
- Then, as crappy as this will sound, solve the problem. You’re working with matrices, forces and moments, and combing them together is pretty much the key to statics.</p>