ABSTRACT
Static equilibrium, or statics, is the fundamental tool we use to analyze structures. It is an applied science, a subset of physics. It describes in precise terms the relationships between applied loads and the resistance to those loads for structures at rest. Of course, this concept of at rest is relative. Even as you read this, the Earth is traveling at 67,000 miles per hour (107,800 km/h) in an orbit around the Sun. Yet, relative to the Earth’s surface, the structures around us are stationary.
