1. I shall endeavour in this course of lectures to illustrate the elementary laws of mechanics by means of experiments. In order to understand the subject treated in this manner, you need not possess any mathematical knowledge beyond an acquaintance with the rudiments of algebra and with a few geometrical terms and principles. But even to those who, having an acquaintance with mathematics, have by its means acquired a knowledge of mechanics, experimental illustrations may still be useful. By actually seeing the truth of results with which you are theoretically familiar, clearer conceptions may be produced, and perhaps new lines of thought opened up. Besides, many of the mechanical principles which lie rather beyond the scope of elementary works on the subject are very susceptible of being treated experimentally; and to the consideration of these some of the lectures of this course will be devoted.
Many of our illustrations will be designedly drawn from very commonplace sources: by this means I would try to impress upon you that mechanics is not a science that exists in books merely, but that it is a study of those principles which are constantly in action about us. Our own bodies, our houses, our vehicles, all the implements and tools which are in daily use—in fact all objects, natural and artificial, contain illustrations of mechanical principles. You should acquire the habit of carefully studying the various mechanical contrivances which may chance to come before your notice. Examine the action of a crane raising weights, of a canal boat descending through a lock. Notice the way a roof is made, or how it is that a bridge can sustain its load. Even a well-constructed farm-gate, with its posts and hinges, will give you admirable illustrations of the mechanical principles of framework. Take some opportunity of examining the parts of a clock, of a sewing-machine, and of a lock and key; visit a saw-mill, and ascertain the action of all the machines you see there; try to familiarize yourself with the principles of the tools which are to be found in any workshop. A vast deal of interesting and useful knowledge is to be acquired in this way.
THE DEFINITION OF FORCE.
2. It is necessary to know the answer to this question, What is a force? People who have not studied mechanics occasionally reply, A push is a force, a steam-engine is a force, a horse pulling a cart is a force, gravitation is a force, a movement is a force, &c., &c. The true definition of force is that which tends to produce or to destroy motion. You may probably not fully understand this until some further explanations and illustrations shall have been given; but, at all events, put any other notion of force out of your mind. Whenever I use the word Force, do you think of the words “something which tends to produce or to destroy motion,” and I trust before the close of the lecture you will understand how admirably the definition conveys what force really is.
3. When a string is attached to this small weight, I can, by pulling the string, move the weight along the table. In this case, there is something transmitted from my hand along the string to the weight in consequence of which the weight moves: that something is a force. I can also move the weight by pushing it with a stick, because force is transmitted along the stick, and makes itself known by producing motion. The archer who has bent his bow and holds the arrow between his finger and thumb feels the string pulling until the impatient arrow darts off. Here motion has been produced by the force of elasticity in the bent bow. Before he released the arrow there was no motion, yet still the bow was exerting force and tending to produce motion. Hence in defining force we must say “that which tends to produce motion,” whether motion shall actually result or not.
4. But forces may also be recognized by their capability or tendency to prevent or to destroy motion. Before I release the arrow I am conscious of exerting a force upon it in order to counteract the pull of the string. Here my force is merely manifested by destroying the motion that, if it were absent, the bow would produce. So when I hold a weight in my hand, the force exerted by my hand destroys the motion that the weight would acquire were I to let it fall; and if a weight greater than I could support were placed in my hand, my efforts to sustain it would still be properly called force, because they tended to destroy motion, though unsuccessfully. We see by these simple cases that a force may be recognized either by producing motion or by trying to produce it, by destroying motion or by tending to destroy it; and hence the propriety of the definition of force must be admitted.
THE MEASUREMENT OF FORCE.
5. As forces differ in magnitude, it becomes necessary to establish some convenient means of expressing their measurements. The pressure exerted by one pound weight at London is the standard with which we shall compare other forces. The piece of iron or other substance which is attracted to the earth with this force in London, is attracted to the earth with a greater force at the pole and a less force at the equator; hence, in order to define the standard force, we have to mention the locality in which the pressure of the weight is exerted.
It is easy to conceive how the magnitude of a pushing or a pulling force may be described as equivalent to so many pounds. The force which the muscles of a man’s arm can exert is measured by the weight which he can lift. If a weight be suspended from an india-rubber spring, it is evident the spring will stretch so that the weight pulls the spring and the spring pulls the weight; hence the number of pounds in the weight is the measure of the force the spring is exerting. In every case the magnitude of a force can be described by the number of pounds expressing the weight to which it is equivalent. There is another but much more difficult mode of measuring force occasionally used in the higher branches of mechanics ([Art. 497]), but the simpler method is preferable for our present purpose.
