Free Body Diagram

Objectives: 1. To understand FBD 2. To draw the FBD Discussion:

A free-body diagram or isolated-body diagram is useful in problems involving equilibrium of forces. Free-body diagrams are useful for setting up standard mechanics problems.
A free body diagram, also called a force diagram is a pictorial representation often used by physicists and engineers to analyze the forces acting on a body of interest. A free body diagram shows all forces of all types acting on this body. Drawing such a diagram can aid in solving for the unknown forces or the equations of motion of the body. Creating a free body diagram can make it easier to understand the forces, and torques or moments, in relation to one another and suggest the proper concepts to apply in order to find the solution to a problem. The diagrams are also used as a conceptual device to help identify the internal forcesfor example, shear forces and bending moments in beamswhich are developed within structures.

Construction
A free body diagram consists primarily of a sketch of the body in question and arrows representing the forces applied to it. The selection of the body to sketch may be the first important decision in the problem solving process. For example, to find the forces on the pivot joint of a simple pair of pliers, it is helpful to draw a free body diagram of just one of the two pieces, not the entire system, replacing the second half with the forces it would apply to the first half.

What is included
The sketch of the free body need to include only as much detail as necessary. Often a simple outline is sufficient. Depending on the analysis to be performed and the model being employed, just a single point may be the most appropriate. If rotation of the body and torque is in consideration, it is best to draw the shape. Free body diagrams are named as such because the diagram isolates the body, hence free, from all other interacting bodies, and the diagram focuses on one specific body. Neighbouring free body diagrams in the same big picture may be necessary in order to consider the other interacting bodies of the situation.

All external contacts, constraints, and body forces are indicated by vector arrows labelled with appropriate descriptions. The arrows show the direction and magnitude of the various forces. To the extent possible or practical, the arrows should indicate the point of application of the force they represent. Only the forces acting on the object are included. These may include forces such as friction, gravity, normal force, drag, tension, or a human force due to pushing or pulling. When in a non-inertial reference frame, fictitious forces, such as centrifugal pseudo force may be appropriate. A coordinate system is usually included, according to convenience. This may make defining the vectors simpler when writing the equations of motion. The x direction might be chosen to point down the ramp in an inclined plane problem, for example. In that case the friction force only has an x component, and the normal force only has a y component. The force of gravity will still have components in both the x and y direction: mgsin() in the x and mgcos() in the y, where is the angle between the ramp and the horizontal.

What is excluded
All external contacts and constraints are left out and replaced with force arrows as described above. Forces which the free body applies to other objects are not included. For example, if a ball rests on a table, the ball applies a force to the table, and the table applies an equal and opposite force to the ball, the FBD of the ball only includes the force that the table causes on the ball. Internal forces, forces between various parts that make up the system that is being treated as a single body, are omitted. For example, if an entire truss is being analyzed to find the reaction forces at the supports, the forces between the individual truss members are not included. Any velocity or acceleration is left out. These may be indicated instead on a companion diagram, called "Kinetic diagrams", "Inertial response diagrams", or the equivalent, depending on the author. A simple free body diagram, shown above, of a block on a ramp illustrates this. All external supports and structures have been replaced by the forces they generate. These include: mg: the product of the mass of the block and the constant of gravitation acceleration: its weight. N: the normal force of the ramp. Ff: the friction force of the ramp.

The force vectors show direction and point of application and are labeled with their magnitude. It contains a coordinate system that can be used when describing the vectors.

Sample Exercises: Apply the method described in the paragraph above to construct free-body diagrams for the various situations described below. Answers are shown and explained at the bottom of this page.

a.

A book is at rest on a tabletop. Diagram the forces acting on the book. See answer.

b. A girl is suspended motionless from the ceiling by two ropes. Diagram the forces acting on the combination of girl and bar. See answer. c. An egg is free-falling from a nest in a tree. Neglect air resistance. Diagram the forces acting on the egg as it is falling. See answer. d. A flying squirrel is gliding (no wing flaps) from a tree to the ground at constant velocity. Consider air resistance. Diagram the forces acting on the squirrel. See answer. e. A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk with a rightward acceleration. Consider frictional forces. Neglect air resistance. Diagram the forces acting on the book. See answer. f. A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk at constant velocity. Consider frictional forces. Neglect air resistance. Diagram the forces acting on the book. See answer. g. A college student rests a backpack upon his shoulder. The pack is suspended motionless by one strap from one shoulder. Diagram the vertical forces acting on the backpack. See answer. h. A skydiver is descending with a constant velocity. Consider air resistance. Diagram the forces acting upon the skydiver. See answer. i. A force is applied to the right to drag a sled across loosely packed snow with a rightward acceleration. Diagram the forces acting upon the sled. See answer. j. A football is moving upwards towards its peak after having been booted by the punter. Diagram the forces acting upon the football as it rises upward towards its peak. See answer. k. A car is coasting to the right and slowing down. Diagram the forces acting upon the car. See answer.

Answers
Answers to the above exercise are shown here. If you have difficulty drawing free-body diagrams, then you ought to be concerned. Continue to review the the list of forces and their description and this page in order to gain a comfort with constructing free-body diagrams.

1. A book is at rest on a tabletop. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

2. A girl is suspended motionless from the ceiling by two ropes. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

Return to Questions Return to Info on Free-body diagrams Return to on-line Force Description List

3. An egg is free-falling from a nest in a tree. Neglect air resistance. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

4. A flying squirrel is gliding (no wing flaps) from a tree to the ground at constant velocity. Consider air resistance. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

5. A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk with a rightward acceleration. Consider frictional forces. Neglect air resistance. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

6. A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk at constant velocity. Consider frictional forces. Neglect air resistance. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

7. A college student rests a backpack upon his shoulder. The pack is suspended motionless by one strap from one shoulder. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

8. A skydiver is descending with a constant velocity. Consider air resistance. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

9. A force is applied to the right to drag a sled across loosely packed snow with a rightward acceleration. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

10. A football is moving upwards towards its peak after having been booted by the punter. A freebody diagram for this situation looks like this:

11. A car is coasting to the right and slowing down. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:

Representative problems and their solutions

We discuss problems, which highlight certain aspects of the study leading to the Free body diagram (FBD). The questions are categorized in terms of the characterizing features of the subject matter :

Vertically Staked blocks Block, string and pulley Block, spring and incline Hinged rod

Rod and spherical shell

Vertically Staked blocks

EXAMPLE 1
Problem : Draw free body diagram of three blocks placed one over other as shown in the figure.

Vertically Staked blocks

Figure 1: Three blocks of different masses are placed one over other on a horizontal surface.
Solution : We start drawing FBD of the topmost block as we do no need to consider normal force due to an overlying body as the case with other blocks.

Forces on the blocks

Figure 2: The forces on the individual elements of the system are shown.
The forces on the block C are : 1. 2.

WC=mCg= its weight, acting downward NB= normal reaction on C due to the upper surface of block B, acting upward

The forces on the block B are :

1. 2. 3.

WB=mBg= its weight, acting downward NB= normal reaction on B due to the lower surface of block C, acting downward NA= normal reaction on B due to the upper surface of block A, acting upward WA=mAg= its weight, acting downward NA= normal reaction on A due to the lower surface of block B, acting downward NO= normal reaction on A due to horizontal surface, acting upward

The forces on the block A are : 1. 2. 3.

The FBD of the blocks as points with external forces are shown here. Note that motion is not involved. Hence, no information about acceleration is given in the drawing.

Free body diagram

Figure 3: The elements are shown as point with forces.

We have deliberately not shown the coordinate system which may be selected, keeping in mind the inputs available. In this instant case, however, a vertical axis is clearly the only choice.

Block, string and pulley

EXAMPLE 2
Problem : Three blocks are connected with the help of two mass-less strings and a mass-less pulley as shown in the figure. If there is no friction involved and strings are taught, then draw free body diagram of each of the blocks.

Three blocks connected with two strings

Three blocks connected with two strings

Figure 4: Three blocks are connected through two "mass-less" strings and one "mass-less" pulley.
Solution : Since there are two separate strings. Tensions in two strings are different. We see here that block -1 has no attachment to its left. Hence, it would involve minimum numbers of forces. Thus, we start from block -1.

Forces on the blocks

Figure 5: The forces on the individual elements of the system are shown.

The forces on the block 1 are : 1. 2. 3.

W1=m1g= its weight, acting downward N1= normal force on block 1 due to the surface of table, acting upward T1= tension in the string, towards right W2=m2g= its weight, acting downward N2= normal force on block 2 due to the surface of table, acting upward T1= tension in the string, towards left T2= tension in the string, towards right

The forces on the block 2 are : 1. 2. 3. 4.

We note here that mass-less string passes over a mass-less pulley and no friction is involved. As such, the tensions in the string on either side of the pulley are equal. The forces on the block 3 are : 1. 2.

W3=m3g= its weight, acting downward T2= tension in the string, acting upward

Since strings are taught, it is evident that the acceleration of the blocks and string are same. Also, we note that motion of the blocks on the table is in horizontal direction only. There is no motion in vertical direction. The forces in the vertical direction, therefore, constitute a balanced force system. Thus, for the analysis of motion, the consideration of forces in vertical directions for blocks of masses

m1 and m2 is redundant and can be simply

ignored. Now, taking these two considerations in account, the FBD of the blocks are as shown here :

Free body diagram

Figure 6: The elements are shown as point with forces.

We should note that the FBD of the blocks show acceleration. Idea here is that we should supplement FBD with as much information as is available. However, we have deliberately not shown the coordinate system which may be selected, keeping in mind the inputs available.

EXAMPLE 3
Problem : Draw free body diagrams of two blocks A and B in the arrangement shown in the figure, where Block B is lying on a smooth horizontal plane.

Two blocks

Figure 7: A force "F" is applied with string and pulley arrangement.

Solution : Drawing FBD is a methodological process. However, its efficient use is intuitive and sometimes experience based. This problem highlights these aspects of drawing FBD. The figure below gives the sketch of various forces on each of the blocks. Note specially that there are indeed large numbers of forces on block "B".

Two blocks

Two blocks

Figure 8: Forces on the two blocks.

The FBD of each of the blocks are shown assuming that only translation is involved. The forces are, therefore, shown concurrent at a single point in each case.

Free body diagrams

Figure 9: Forces on the two blocks are shown concurrent.

If we look closely at the forces on the block "B", then we realize that tension in the string is equal to external force "F". These tensions act on the block "B" through two attached pulleys. Knowing that tension in the string is same everywhere, we could have neglected all the four tensions as far as block "B" is concerned. They form two pairs of equal and opposite forces and, therefore, tensions form a balanced force system for block "B". We could have further simplified drawing of FBD in the first attempt. We are required to consider only translation in horizontal direction. The forces in vertical direction on block "B", as a matter of fact, may not be required for the force analysis in horizontal direction. We will learn subsequently that we can determine friction in this case by considering vertical normal force only on block "A". Thus, we can simplify drawing FBD a lot, if we have lots of experience in analyzing forces.

Free body diagrams

Figure 10: Abridged version of free body diagram.

Block, spring and incline

EXAMPLE 4
Problem : A block of mass m is held with the support of a spring of constant k on a rough incline of angle . Draw the free body diagram (FBD) of the block.

A block on an incline

A block on an incline

Figure 11: A block of mass m is held with the support of a spring of constant k on a rough incline of angle .
Solution : The external forces on the block are : 1. 2. 3. 4. Weight of the block Normal force due to incline Friction force Spring force

The forces are drawn from the points of respective applications. Note specially that forces are not concurrent.

Forces on the blocks

Forces on the blocks

Figure 12: The forces on the block are shown.

As there is no rotation involved, we consider forces to be concurrent and represent them as such with a common point. The FBD of the block as point object is shown here :

Free body diagram

Figure 13: The block is shown as point with external forces on it.
We have indicated the angle that normal force makes with the direction of perpendicular to the incline. Idea here is that we should supplement FBD with as much information as is available. We have deliberately not shown the coordinate system which may be selected, keeping in mind the inputs available.

Hinged rod
EXAMPLE 5
Problem : A rod AB is hinged at A from a wall and is held with the help of a string as shown in the figure. Draw the free body diagram (FBD) of the rod.

A hinged rod

Figure 14: The rod is hinged from a wall and is held with the help of a string .
Solution : This example is designed to highlight the characteristics of a hinge. A hinge changes the nature of contact force at the contact between two objects. The direction of contact forces are not predefined like in the normal case, but can assume any direction depending on the other forces acting on the body under consideration. As a consequence, the contact force is represented by a unknown force F. In the case of coplanar force system, this unknown force can, in turn, be represented by a pair of components in x and y directions. The figure below shows the forces acting on the rod AB.

Forces on the rod

Forces on the rod

Figure 15: The forces on the rod are shown.

The FBD of the rod after removing other elements of the system is shown here :

Free body diagram

Figure 16: The rod is shown with external forces on it.

We should note that the FBD of the rod shows the angle that the tension force makes with the vertical. Idea here is that we should supplement FBD of the rod with as much information as is available. Also, we should note that we have not reduced the rod to a point as earlier to emphasize the lateral placements of forces on the rod. As a result, the rod may involve tendencies for both translation and rotation. If only translational is involved, we can treat rod as point with its center of mass. We have considered horizontal and vertical directions as "x" and "y" directions for denoting unknown force components "

Fx " and " Fy ".

Rod and spherical shell

EXAMPLE 6
Problem : A rod AB is placed inside a spherical shell, whose inside surface is rough. Draw the free body diagram (FBD) of the rod.

A rod placed inside a spherical shell

Figure 17: The rod is placed inside a spherical shell, whose inside surface is rough.
Solution : We note that inside surface of the spherical shell is rough. It means that there will be friction between spherical shall and the rod. Thus, there are three forces operating on the rod : (i) weight of rod (ii) normal force between rod and spherical shell and (iii) friction force between rod and spherical shell. Since the rod is in contact at two end points, contact forces operate at both these end points.

Forces on the rod

Forces on the rod

Figure 18: The forces on the rod are shown.

The normal forces are perpendicular to the tangents drawn at A and B. As such, normal forces at these points, when extended meet at the center of the spherical shell. The friction force at the contact surface is along the tangent drawn. Here we see that weight is shifted laterally towards B. Considering rod has a downward tendency at B, the friction is shown in the upward direction at B and downward direction at A. The FBD of the rod after removing other elements of the system is shown here.

Free body diagram

Figure 19: The rod is shown with external forces on it.

We have deliberately not shown the coordinate system which may be selected, keeping in mind the inputs available. Also, we have not reduced the rod as point as the rod may undergo both translational and rotational motion. As such, lateral placements of forces along the rod are shown with FBD.