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Newtons Laws

Last time we learned how constitutive laws relate forces to variables describing components, but
what principles do we use to combine those constitutive laws into models of mechanical systems?
Newtons laws provide the basis for everything we do. You probably know Newtons laws already:
they say that the sum of the forces at a point must be equal to the mass of that point times its
acceleration.
X
F = ma

Something we often do not acknowledge is that Newtons laws are really only interesting or
deep if there are multiple forces involvedthat is, the statement that F = ma is not all that
interesting because of course the second derivative of position must be equal to something.5 But
the sum of forces being equal to mass times acceleration is very deep, because that means there
can be multiple components that all interact with each other through this magical relationship!

Figure 9: A spring with an external force that is zero.

As an example, lets go back to our spring and damper system where we assume that the
external force is equal to zero. This spring-damper system could represent a shock absorber on a
vehicle that has a load of an external force on it or a bungee cord like the one I showed in lecture
that I can stretch by pulling on the end with an external force. Newtons laws tell us that the
sum of forces at the point where the spring and the damper meet must be equal to the mass times
acceleration of that point.
A positive external force will cause the point to accelerate to the right. On the other hand, a
positive spring forceindicating that the spring is in extensionwill accelerate the point to the
left. Similarly, a positive damping force would act to the left. Hence, the sign conventions we chose
for the individual mechanical elements have consequences for the signs in Newtons equations
Fext

Fs

Fd = ma = 0

and I strongly recommend that you get in the habit of making sure that you think about the physical
meaning of each force as you incorporate it into Newtons laws.6 Now, if we assume that the
external force is zero and that the mass of the point is zero, we are left with a much simpler
expression of Newtons laws Fs Fd = 0.
If we use the constitutive laws from Lecture 2 that relate the spring force to the spring position
and the damper force to the damper velocity,
Fs = kxs

Fd = bvd

I think this confused me as an undergraduate for at least two years!

The generalization of keeping track of sign conventions in this way is called a free body diagram. For us, free
body diagrams are unnecessarily complicated and dont really help very much, but as soon as you are trying to add up
forces acting on a body in three dimensions they become really useful.
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and substitute these constitutive relations into Newtons laws, we get an equation involving xs and
vd .

Fs
kxs

Fd = 0
bvd = 0

If we additionally keep in mind that the time derivative of the position of spring is equal to the
velocity of the damper (i.e., x s = vd ), we get a simple equation involving only the position of the
spring.
kxs bx s = 0
Now, if we define x to be the position of the spring (just dropping the s), we get
kx

bx = 0

and if we then solve for x (remembering that the dot notion is the same as
called an ordinary differential equation or ODE for short.
x =

k
x
b

d
x),
dt

we get what is

x = f (x)

This ODE says that the derivative of the position is equal to negative k divided by b times the
position.7
Note that this means that the derivative of the variable x is equal to a function of the variable x.
This is the form of an ODEit is always the derivative of something being equal to a function
of that something.
d
(something) = f (something)
dt
In this case, that something is the position x and f (x) is equal to bk x. In general the something is called the state of the ODE.
States of mechanical systems do not have to be positionslater we will also use velocity of
masses as states. Engineers get good at choosing the state of an ODE with experience, and you
will get good at this as well.
In principle, an ODE can be very complex. For instance, it could look something like
x = tanh 1 (x2 )
which is clearly a huge mess! But for us we will always focus on what are called linear, constant
coefficient, first-order ordinary differential equations. Linear means that the dependence of a state
velocity on a state is always a line. Constant coefficient means that the slope of that line is always
constant. First order means that there is only one time derivative. That is, we should only see one
dot over x rather than two.
Lets finish with another example and go back to the model of the spring and damper, but now
allow the external force to be nonzero. This would be like we take the bungee cord from lecture
and pull on it with a constant force.
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As you get accustomed to looking at ODEs, it can be very, very helpful to say what the ODE means out loud. If I
am looking at an equation I find confusing, I still do this.

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Now we have the external force in the equation but the mass is still zero. If we replace the spring
and damper forces by their constitutive laws, we can solve for an ordinary differential equation that
now includes the external force.
0 = Fext Fs Fd
) 0 = Fext kx bx
k
Fext
) x =
x+
b
b
It is worth thinking about this differential equation and what it means. It says that if the position of
the spring starts out less than zero, making the left hand term greater than zero, and if the external
force is greater than zero, then the velocity of the position of the spring must be positive. If the
position of the spring is positive and the external force is negative, then the velocity of the spring
must be negative.
But if both position and force are positive, we dont know which direction the spring will
moveit depends on the magnitudes of the external force, the spring constant k, and the damping
constant b.
The most important thing from today to remember is that Newtons laws lead to ordinary differential equations and that if the constitutive laws are linear, you should expect a linear, constant
coefficient differential equation.

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