348
FORCE,
MASS,
AND
ACCELERATION
passes
through
the mass-center
of
the
body,
and its
direction
is
opposite
to that of
a;
the
couple
has a moment
equal
to
la
and its
direction of
rotation
is
opposite
to that of a.
The
forces of
the
couple
are
not
necessarily
equal
to
Ma
or
parallel
to
a
as
shown
in
Fig.
368
(a),
that
is,
the
couple
may
be
rotated in
the
plane
of motion and the
magnitude
of
the
forces
of
the
couple may
be
changed provided
the moment
of
the
couple
is
always
equal
to
la
(Art. 27).
Thus,
if a force
having
a
magni-
tude
equal
to
Ma,
and
a
couple having
a moment
equal
to
Ma
q
(or
la),
act on the
body
with the external forces
(P
and
W),
as
shown
in
Fig. 368(6),
the
force
system (and
the
body)
would be
in
equilibrium.
ILLUSTRATIVE PROBLEMS
396.
At what
height
should the cushion on a billiard table be
placed
so
that
the billiard
ball in
rebounding
from the
cushion starts
off
without
causing
any
friction on
the
table
top?
Solution. The
billiard ball has
plane
motion and while in
contact
with the
cushion
it is
acted
upon
by
three
forces;
the cushion
pressure
P,
the
weight
W,
and the
table
pressure
N,
as shown
in
Fig.
369.
If
there is no
horizontal friction
force at
A,
then
P
is the resultant
of
the
external
forces
which
act
on
the ball
and it must be
collinear
with the
resultant
of the
effective forces.
The re-
sultant of the effective forces
is a
force
of
magnitude Ma,
the distance of the action
line
from the mass-center
being given
P
by
the
equation,
And since
a
=
ra,
we have
fr
2
2
Hence,
FIG. 369.
396.
Solve
Prob.
386
by introducing
the reversed resultant of the
effective
forces
(inertia
force for
the
rod).
Solution.
The resultant
of
the effective forces is a force of
magnitude
Mo
acting
through
the
mass-center
of the
rod
in
the direction
of
a,
and a
couple
of moment
la,
as
shown in
Fig.
370
(a).
If
G denotes the
mass-center,
then