Engineering Mechanics: Statics and Dynamics

by Archie Higdon

Book Overview

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0132793806
• ISBN13: 9780132793803
• Release Date: January 1976
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• Length: 773 Pages
• Weight: 3.60 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Best book I've found on dynamics

In engineering physics, dynamics is the branch of classical mechanics that is concerned with the effects of forces on the motion of objects. This differentiates dynamics from statics, where components and structures are at rest under the action of external forces of equilibrium. There are a lot of textbooks in publication that attempt to explain dynamics, but I have never found a better one than this book. Although long out of print, it does a good job of explaining dynamics with many good worked examples as compared to all of its high-priced competitors. The notation is clear, there are many clear figures to help explain the concepts, and there are problems at the end of each chapter with the answers to even problems in the back of the book. If you learn best by reading successive short passages accompanied by worked-out examples, this book is for you. Because it was published in the 1970's you'll have to do without the fancy software and Matlab projects that accompany today's texts, but you will have a better grasp of the material. This book was my textbook in dynamics back in the 1970's, and because I liked it so much I kept it all of these years. Three years ago I was preparing to take a course in computational robotics, and I needed to brush up on my dynamics. After browsing through a few current publications and finding them to be inadequate, I opened this book and went through the applicable material. The material came back to me even though I've been an electrical/computer engineer and hadn't used any of the material I had learned in dynamics in years. Highly recommended. The table of contents is as follows: 1. Kinematics 2. Kinetics - Force, Mass, and Acceleration 3. Kinetics - Work and Energy 4. Kinetics - Impulse and Momentum 5. Mechanical Vibrations The reader should already have taken a course in statics and be familiar with calculus. The book is approximately 450 pages in length.

Extremely well-written

When I was searching for the perfect text on this subject, I chanced to come across this book. I had used the books by Beer & Johnston and Meriam, but this one came close to being perfect as it was extremely well-written. If you are looking for one text on Engineering Mechanics, then I recommend Irving Shames. Beer & Johnston can be used as a supplement.

Shames builds foundation of knowledge for student engineers

I have taken Statics, Dynamics & Fluids from the master himself at the University of Buffalo's School of Mechanical Engineering & using his text can say he has given generations of students the tools for advanced degrees or industry.His text is invaluable for mechanical engineering students to properly learn many aspects of Newtonian Physics, starting from vector fundimentals and finishing with the dynamics of shock, impact and rigid body analysis.