The Elementary Theory of Statical Stability

Extract

There are some problems in elementary mathematics that the average student is apt to consider as matter for memorising without any great effort being either useful or advisable at understanding them. Experience in teaching elementary statics shows that the theory of stability is an example of such a problem. The average student often does not appreciate the principle of the method generally adopted to investigate the stability of the equilibrium of one body resting on another. He is not generally in a position to grasp the significance of an “infinitesimal displacement,” or the meaning of “proceeding to the second order of small quantities” when the equilibrium is “neutral” to the first order. He is further puzzled by the fact that what appears to be neutral equilibrium becomes, when higher orders of small quantities are taken into account, stable in one case, unstable in another, whilst remaining neutral in a third. These difficulties can be overcome if we adopt a slight modification of the treatment given in the text-books. The object of this article is to explain the method used by the author for lecturing purposes, and not to obtain new results.