How to Make Free Body Diagram

Follow the steps mentioned below to make Free Body Diagram.

Step 1: Mark Object Boundary: First of all identify the body for which the analysis has to take place, draw the boundary of the object.

Step 2: Identify Contact Surfaces: Once the body is identified and boundary is clear, we need to identify the contact surfaces of the body (any surface which body touches is the contact surface for the body), which can be identified by drawing a dot on the object boundary, when any surface touches the body. When there is a dot it is for sure that there is a contact force.

Step 3: Define a Coordinate System: Define a coordinate system and label clearly specify positive directions.

Step 4: Identify Contact Forces: For every dot define the contact force acting at that dot with an arrow pointing away from the dot, (since the force is acting on the body it will always be away from the surface and towards the body) and label this forces.

Step 5: Draw other forces acting on the body such as Weight of the body, electric or magnetic force in case it also exists.

Step 6: In case the body have any resulting acceleration show that using an acceleration vector.

Free Body Diagram often called FBD is a way of representing all the forces acting on a body at a particular instant in a simpler form. It enables the calculation of the net force acting on the body and its direction of motion by making a symbolic diagram of all the forces acting on a body.

In this article, we will learn in detail about the Free Body Diagram, what are its features, how to make it, and solve some examples based on it.