Question

Free body diagrams doesn’t play any role in making the calculations on the conditions of the equilibrium of the body when there is the involvement of the potential energy.

(a) True

(b) False

The question was asked during an interview for a job.

My question is taken from Potential Energy topic in chapter Principle of Virtual Work of Engineering Mechanics

Answer 1

Right choice is (b) False

The best I can explain: The free body diagrams does play an important role in the formation of the conditions of the equilibrium of the rigid body. As the net forces are zero, the fbd helps us to take the measure of the same. That is to see whether the summation is really zero or not.