FBD’s

A Free Body Diagram or FBD in short is a very useful tool to analyze all the forces on an object. While drawing the FBD we must keep in mind the frame of reference that is from where you are looking at the object. Different frames of reference may result in different FBD’s because we need to consider pseudo forces in some frames. We will speak of them later, but now let’s focus on FBD’s. When we draw an FBD we must draw all the forces “on” the object. Which means only the forces which act on a particular object will be drawn. The forces which the object “exerts on others” must not be drawn. Also it is important to draw the forces on appropriate locations as they would allow us to study the rotational aspect, known as torques, too. Below I will be attaching some FBD’s that I have made, as examples.

Here are some sample Free Body Diagrams:-

So, that was basically it. I know this was more of pictures, but that is how FBD’s work. Though there is a lot to discuss about these in depth, but that’s all for today. Thanks for reading!!!