Problem 1.

1 Express the fractions

significant digits.

1
3

and

2
3

to three

Solution:
1/3 D 0.3333. . D 0.333
2/3 D 0.6666. . D 0.667

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.2 The base of natural logarithms is e D

2.718281828 . . .
(a)
(b)
(c)

Express e to five significant digits.

Determine the value of e2 to five significant digits.
Use the value of e you obtained in part (a) to determine the value of e2 to five significant digits.

Solution: The value of e is: e D 2.718281828

(a)

To five significant figures e D 2.7183

(b)

e2 to five significant figures is e2 D 7.3891

(c)

Using the value from part (a) we find e2 D 7.3892 which is

not correct in the fifth digit.

[Part (c) demonstrates the hazard of using rounded-off

values in calculations.]

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.3 A machinist drills a circular hole in a

panel with radius r D 5 mm. Determine the circumference C and area A of the hole to four significant digits.

Solution:
C D 2
r D 10
D 31.42 mm
A D
r 2 D 25
D 78.54 mm2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.4 The opening in a soccer goal is 24 ft

wide and 8 ft high. Use these values to determine its
dimensions in meters to three significant digits.

Solution: The conversion between feet and meters, found inside

the front cover of the textbook, is 1 m D 3.281 ft. The goal width,


w D 24 ft

1m
3.281 ft


D 7.3148 m D 7.31 m.

The goal height is given by

h D 8 ft

1m
3.281 ft


D 2.438 m D 2.44 m.

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.5 The coordinates (in meters) of point A

are xA D 3, yA D 7, and the coordinates of point B are
xB D 10, yB D 2. Determine the length of the straight
line from A to B to three significant digits.
y

Solution: The length is

LD

10
32 C
2
72 m D

p
74 m D 8.602325 m

to three significant figures this is

L D 8.60 m

B
x

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.6 Suppose that you have just purchased

a Ferrari F355 coupe and you want to know whether
you can use your set of SAE (U.S. Customary Units)
wrenches to work on it. You have wrenches with widths
w D 1/4 in, 1/2 in, 3/4 in, and 1 in, and the car has nuts
with dimensions n D 5 mm, 10 mm, 15 mm, 20 mm,
and 25 mm. Defining a wrench to fit if w is no more
than 2% larger than n, which of your wrenches can you
use?

Solution: Convert the metric size n to inches, and compute the

percentage difference between the metric sized nut and the SAE
wrench. The results are:


5 mm

1 inch
25.4 mm

D 0.19685.. in,

0.19685
0.25
0.19685


100

D
27.0%


10 mm


15 mm

20 mm


25 mm

1 inch
25.4 mm
1 inch
25.4 mm
1 inch
25.4 mm
1 inch
25.4 mm

D 0.3937.. in,

D 0.5905.. in,

D 0.7874.. in,

D 0.9843.. in,

0.3937
0.5
0.3937
0.5905
0.5
0.5905


100 D
27.0%

100 D C15.3%

0.7874
0.75
0.7874
0.9843
1.0
0.9843


100 D C4.7%


100 D
1.6%

A negative percentage implies that the metric nut is smaller than the
SAE wrench; a positive percentage means that the nut is larger then
the wrench. Thus within the definition of the 2% fit, the 1 in wrench
will fit the 25 mm nut. The other wrenches cannot be used.

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.7 On August 20, 1974, Nolan Ryan threw

the first baseball pitch measured at over 100 mi/h. The
measured speed was 100.9 mi/h. Determine the speed of
the pitch to four significant digits (a) in ft/s; (b) in km/h.

Solution:
(a)

v D 100.9

mi
h

v D 100.9
(b)

mi
h

5280 ft
1 mi



5280 ft
mi

1h
3600 s




D 148.0

0.3048 m
ft



ft
s

1 km
1000 m

D 162.4 km/h

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.8 On March 18, 1999, an experimental

Maglev (magnetic levitation) train in Japan reached a
maximum speed of 552 km/h. What was its velocity in
mi/h to three significant digits?
Solution:
v D 552

km
h

1000 m
km



1 ft
0.3048 m



1 mi
5280 ft


D 343 mi/h

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.9 In May, 1963, in the last flight of

Project Mercury, Astronaut L. Gordon Cooper traveled
a distance of 546,167 miles in 1 day, 10 hours, 19
minutes, and 49 seconds. Determine his average speed
(the distance traveled divided by the time required) to
three significant digits (a) in mi/h; (b) in km/h.

Solution:

(a)

vD

546167 mi
 D 15,900 mi/h
19
49
34 C
C
h
60
3600

v D 15,900
(b)

mi
h

5280 ft
1 mi



0.3048 m
ft



1 km
1000 m

D 25,600 km/h

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.10 Engineers who study shock waves

sometimes express velocity in millimeters per microsecond (mm/s). Suppose the velocity of a wavefront
is measured and determined to be 5 mm/s. Determine
its velocity: (a) in m/s; (b) in mi/s.

Solution: Convert units using Tables 1.1 and 1.2. The results:


(a)

mm

s



1m
1000 mm



106
s
1s


D 5000

m
s

Next, use this result to get (b):

(b)

5000

m

s

1 ft
0.3048 m



1 mi
5280 ft

D 3.10685 . . .


D 3.11

mi
s

mi
s

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.11 The kinetic energy of a particle of mass

m is defined to be 12 mv2 , where v is the magnitude of the
particles velocity. If the value of the kinetic energy of
a particle at a given time is 200 when m is in kilograms
and v is in meters per second, what is the value when m
is in slugs and v is in feet per second?

Solution:


200

kg-m2
s2



0.0685 slug
1 kg

D 147.46 D 147



1 ft
0.3048 m

2

slug-ft2
s2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.12 The acceleration due to gravity at sea

level in SI units is g D 9.81 m/s2 . By converting units,
use this value to determine the acceleration due to gravity
at sea level in U.S. Customary units.

Solution: Use Table 1.2. The result is:

g D 9.81

m
s2

1 ft
0.3048 m


D 32.185 . . .

ft
s2


D 32.2

ft
s2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.13 A furlong per fortnight is a facetious

unit of velocity, perhaps made up by a student as a
satirical comment on the bewildering variety of units
engineers must deal with. A furlong is 660 ft (1/8 mile).
A fortnight is 2 weeks (14 days). If you walk to class
at 2 m/s, what is your speed in furlongs per fortnight to
three significant digits?

Solution: Convert the units using the given conversions. Record

the first three digits on the left, and add zeros as required by the number
of tens in the exponent. The result is:


5

ft
s



1 furlong
660 ft

D

9160



furlongs
fortnight

3600 s
1 hr



24 hr
1 day



14 day
1 fortnight

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.14 The cross-sectional area of a beam is

480 in2 . What is its cross-section in m2 ?
Solution: Convert units using Table 1.2. The result:


480 in2

1 ft
12 in

2

0.3048 m
1 ft

2
D 0.30967 . . . m2 D 0.310 m2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.15 The cross-sectional area of the C1230

American Standard Channel steel beam is A D 8.81 in2 .
What is its cross-sectional area in mm2 ?

y
A

Solution:


A D 8.81 in2

25.4 mm
1 in

2
D 5680 mm2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.16 A pressure transducer measures a value

of 300 lb/in2 . Determine the value of the pressure in
pascals. A pascal (Pa) is one newton per meter squared.
Solution: Convert the units using Table 1.2 and the definition of
the Pascal unit. The result:


300

lb
in2



4.448 N
1 lb



D 2.0683 . . .
106 

12 in
1 ft

N
m2

2

1 ft
0.3048 m

2


D 2.07
106  Pa

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.17 A horsepower is 550 ft-lb/s. A watt is

1 N-m/s. Determine the number of watts generated by
(a) the Wright brothers 1903 airplane, which had a 12horsepower engine; (b) a modern passenger jet with a
power of 100,000 horsepower at cruising speed.
Solution: Convert units using inside front cover of textbook derive
the conversion between horsepower and watts. The result


(a)

12 hp

(b)

105 hp

746 watt
1 hp

746 watt
1 hp

D 8950 watt

Boeing 747

Wright
Brothers' Flier
(shown to scale)


D 7.46
107  watt

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.18 In SI units, the universal gravitational

constant G D 6.67 10
11 N-m2 /kg2 . Determine the
value of G in U.S. Customary units.

Solution: Convert units using Table 1.2. The result:

6.67
10
11 

N-m2
kg2



1 lb
4.448 N


D 3.43590 . . .
10
8 

lb-ft2
slug2



1 ft
0.3048 m

2


D 3.44
10
8 

14.59 kg
1 slug

lb-ft2
slug2

2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.19 The moment of inertia of the rectangular area about the x axis is given by the equation
I D 13 bh3 .
The dimensions of the area are b D 200 mm and h D
100 mm. Determine the value of I to four significant
digits in terms of (a) mm4 ; (b) m4 ; (c) in4 .

Solution:
1

200 mm
100 mm3 D 66.7 106 mm4
3

(a)

ID

(b)

I D 66.7 106 mm4

(c)

I D 66.7 106 mm4

1m
1000 mm

1 in
25.4 mm

4
D 66.7 10
6 m4

4
D 160 in4

x
b

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.20

In the equation

T D 12 I2 ,

Solution: For (a), substitute the units into the expression for T:
(a)

the term I is in kg-m2 and is in s
1 .

(a)
(b)

What are the SI units of T?

If the value of T is 100 when I is in kg-m2 and is
in s
1 , what is the value of T when it is expressed
in U.S. Customary base units?

TD


1
kg-m2
I kg-m2 s
1 2 D
2
s2

For (b), convert units using Table 1.2. The result:


(b)

100

kg-m2
s2



1 slug
14.59 kg


D 73.7759 . . .

slug-ft2
s2



1 ft
0.3048 m


D 73.8

2

slug-ft2
s2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.21

The equation

D

My
I

Solution:
(a)

is used in the mechanics of materials to determine

normal stresses in beams.
(a)

(b)

When this equation is expressed in terms of SI base

units, M is in newton-meters (N-m), y is in meters
(m), and I is in meters to the fourth power (m4 ).
What are the SI units of
?
If M D 2000 N-m, y D 0.1 m, and I D 7
10
5 m4 , what is the value of
in U.S. Customary
base units?

(b)

D

My
N
(N-m)m
D 2
D
I
m4
m

D

My
2000 N-m0.1 m
D
I
7 10
5 m4
D 59,700

1 lb
4.448 N



0.3048 m
ft

2

lb
ft2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.22 Let W be your weight at sea level in

pounds. (a) What is your weight at sea level in newtons?
(b) What is your mass in kilograms?
Solution:


(a)

W (lb)

(b)

mD

4.448 N
lb


D 4.448W
N

4.448W
N
D 0.453W
kg
9.81 m/s2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.23 The acceleration due to gravity is

1.62 m/s2 on the surface of the moon and 9.81 m/s2
on the surface of the earth. A female astronauts mass
is 57 kg. What is the maximum allowable mass of her
spacesuit and equipment if the engineers dont want the
total weight on the moon of the woman, her spacesuit
and equipment to exceed 180 N?

Solution: Find the mass which weighs 180 N on the moon.

mD

180 N-s2
w
D
D 111.1 kg
g
1.62 m

This is the total allowable mass. Thus, the suit & equipment can have
mass of
mS/E D 111.1 kg
57 kg D 54.1 kg

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.24
(a)
(b)

A person has a mass of 50 kg.

The acceleration due to gravity at sea level is g D

9.81 m/s2 . What is the persons weight at sea level?
The acceleration due to gravity on the moon is g D
1.62 m/s2 . What would the person weigh on the
moon?

Solution: Use Eq (1.6).

(a)

m
We D 50 kg 9.81 2 D 490.5 N D 491 N, and
s

(b)

m
Wmoon D 50 kg 1.62 2 D 81 N.
s

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.25 The acceleration due to gravity at

sea level is g D 9.81 m/s2 . The radius of the earth
is 6370 km. The universal gravitational constant is
G D 6.67 10
11 N-m2 /kg2 . Use this information to
determine the mass of the earth.

Solution: Use Eq (1.3) a D

GmE
. Solve for the mass,
R2

m 2

9.81 m/s2 
6370 km2 103
gR2
km
mE D
D


G
N-m2
6.67
10
11 
kg2
D 5.9679 . . .
1024  kg D 5.97
1024  kg

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.26 A person weighs 180 lb at sea level. The

radius of the earth is 3960 mi. What force is exerted on
the person by the gravitational attraction of the earth if
he is in a space station in orbit 200 mi above the surface
of the earth?

Solution: Use Eq (1.5).

W D mg

RE
r

2
D

WE
g



g

RE
RE C H

2
D WE

3960
3960 C 200

2

D
180
0.90616 D 163 lb

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.27 The acceleration due to gravity on the

surface of the moon is 1.62 m/s2 . The radius of the moon
is RM D 1738 km. Determine the acceleration due to
gravity of the moon at a point 1738 km above its surface.
Strategy: Write an equation equivalent to Eq. (1.4) for
the acceleration due to gravity of the moon.

Solution:
Use Eq (1.4), rewritten to apply to the Moon. . . a D



gM

RM
r

a D
1.62 m/s2 

RM
RM CRM

2
D
1.62 m/s2 

2
1
D 0.405 m/s2
2

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they


currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.28 If an object is near the surface of the

earth, the variation of its weight with distance from the
center of the earth can often be neglected. The acceleration due to gravity at sea level is g D 9.81 m/s2 . The
radius of the earth is 6370 km. The weight of an object
at sea level is mg, where m is its mass. At what height
above the earth does the weight of the object decrease
to 0.99 mg?

Solution: Use a variation of Eq (1.5).

W D mg

RE
RE C h

2
D 0.99 mg

Solve for the radial height,

h D RE


1
p

1 D
6370
1.0050378
1.0
0.99

D 32.09 . . . km D 32,100 m D 32.1 km

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.29 The centers of two oranges are 1 m

apart. The mass of each orange is 0.2 kg. What
gravitational force do they exert on each other? (The
universal gravitational constant is G D 6.67 10
11 Nm2 /kg2 .)

Solution: Use Eq (1.1) F D

FD

Gm1 m2
. Substitute:
r2

6.67
10
11 
0.2
0.2
D 2.668
10
12  N
12

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Problem 1.30 At a point between the earth and the

moon, the magnitude of the force exerted on an object
by the earths gravity equals the magnitude of the force
exerted on the object by the moons gravity. What is
the distance from the center of the earth to that point
to three significant digits? The distance from the center
of the earth to the center of the moon is 383,000 km,
and the radius of the earth is 6370 km. The radius of the
moon is 1738 km, and the acceleration due to gravity at
its surface is 1.62 m/s2 .

Solution: Let rEp be the distance from the Earth to the point where
the gravitational accelerations are the same and let rMp be the distance
from the Moon to that point. Then, rEp C rMp D rEM D 383,000 km.
The fact that the gravitational attractions by the Earth and the Moon
at this point are equal leads to the equation


gE

RE
rEp

2

D gM

RM
rMp

2
,

where rEM D 383,000 km. Substituting the correct numerical values

leads to the equation

9.81

 m 
6370 km 2
 m 
1738 km 2
D 1.62 2
,
2
s
rEp
s
rEM
rEp

where rEp is the only unknown. Solving, we get rEp D 344,770 km D

345,000 km.

c 2005 Pearson Education, Inc., Upper Saddle River, NJ. All rights reserved. This material is protected under all copyright laws as they

currently exist. No portion of this material may be reproduced, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher.