8.2 Torque

Authors: Paul Peter Urone, Roger Hinrichs
Adapted by: Rob Pryce, Alix Blacklin

Several familiar factors determine how effective you are in opening the door. See the figure below. First of all, the larger the force, the more effective it is in opening the door—obviously, the harder you push, the more rapidly the door opens. Also, the point at which you push is crucial. If you apply your force too close to the hinges, the door will open slowly, if at all. Most people have been embarrassed by making this mistake and bumping up against a door when it did not open as quickly as expected. Finally, the direction in which you push is also important. The most effective direction is perpendicular to the door—we push in this direction almost instinctively.

Torque is the turning or twisting effectiveness of a force, illustrated here for door rotation on its hinges (as viewed from overhead). Torque has both magnitude and direction.

The magnitude, direction, and point of application of the force are incorporated into the definition of the physical quantity called torque. Torque is the rotational equivalent of a force. It is a measure of the effectiveness of a force in changing or accelerating a rotation (changing the angular velocity over a period of time). In equation form, the magnitude of torque is defined to be

where [latex]\tau[/latex] (the Greek letter tau) is the symbol for torque, [latex]r[/latex] is the distance from the pivot point to the point where the force is applied, [latex]F[/latex] is the magnitude of the force, and [latex]\theta[/latex] is the angle between the force and the vector directed from the point of application to the pivot point, as seen in the figures above and below. An alternative expression for torque is given in terms of the perpendicular lever arm [latex]{r}_{\perp }[/latex] (or moment arm) as shown in these figures, which is defined as

so that

The moment arm [latex]{r}_{\perp }[/latex] is the shortest distance from the pivot point to the line along which [latex]\mathbf{\text{F}}[/latex] acts; it is shown as a dashed line in the two figures above. Note that the line segment that defines the distance [latex]{r}_{\perp }[/latex] is perpendicular to [latex]\mathbf{\text{F}}[/latex], as its name implies. It is sometimes easier to find or visualize [latex]{r}_{\perp }[/latex] than to find both [latex]r[/latex] and [latex]\theta[/latex]. In such cases, it may be more convenient to use [latex]\tau ={r}_{\perp }\mathbf{F}[/latex] rather than [latex]\tau =\text{rF}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\text{sin}\phantom{\rule{0.25em}{0ex}}\theta[/latex] for torque, but both are equally valid.

The SI unit of torque is newtons times meters, usually written as [latex]\text{N}·\text{m}[/latex]. For example, if you push perpendicular to the door with a force of 40 N at a distance of 0.800 m from the hinges, you exert a torque of 32 N·m(0.800 m × 40 N × sin 90º) relative to the hinges. If you reduce the force to 20 N, the torque is reduced to [latex]\text{16 N·m}[/latex], and so on.

The torque is always calculated with reference to some chosen pivot point. For the same applied force, a different choice for the location of the pivot will give you a different value for the torque, since both [latex]r[/latex] and [latex]\theta[/latex] depend on the location of the pivot. Any point in any object can be chosen to calculate the torque about that point. The object may not actually pivot about the chosen “pivot point.”

Note that for rotation in a plane, torque has two possible directions. Torque is either clockwise or counterclockwise relative to the chosen pivot point, as illustrated for points B and A, respectively, in the hockey stick figure. If the object can rotate about point A, it will rotate counterclockwise, which means that the torque for the force is shown as counterclockwise relative to A. But if the object can rotate about point B, it will rotate clockwise, which means the torque for the force shown is clockwise relative to B. Also, the magnitude of the torque is greater when the lever arm is longer.

Now, the second condition necessary to achieve equilibrium is that the net external torque on a system must be zero. An external torque is one that is created by an external force. You can choose the point around which the torque is calculated. The point can be the physical pivot point of a system or any other point in space—but it must be the same point for all torques. If the second condition (net external torque on a system is zero) is satisfied for one choice of pivot point, it will also hold true for any other choice of pivot point in or out of the system of interest. (This is true only in an inertial frame of reference.) The second condition necessary to achieve equilibrium is stated in equation form as

where net means total. Torques, which are in opposite directions are assigned opposite signs. A common convention is to call counterclockwise (ccw) torques positive and clockwise (cw) torques negative.

When two children balance a seesaw as shown in the figure below, they satisfy the two conditions for equilibrium. Most people have perfect intuition about seesaws, knowing that the lighter child must sit farther from the pivot and that a heavier child can keep a lighter one off the ground indefinitely.

Several aspects of the preceding example have broad implications. First, the choice of the pivot as the point around which torques are calculated simplified the problem. Since [latex]{F}_{\text{p}}[/latex] is exerted on the pivot point, its lever arm is zero. Hence, the torque exerted by the supporting force [latex]{F}_{\text{p}}[/latex] is zero relative to that pivot point. The second condition for equilibrium holds for any choice of pivot point, and so we choose the pivot point to simplify the solution of the problem.

Second, the acceleration due to gravity canceled in this problem, and we were left with a ratio of masses. This will not always be the case. Always enter the correct forces—do not jump ahead to enter some ratio of masses.

Third, the weight of each child is distributed over an area of the seesaw, yet we treated the weights as if each force were exerted at a single point. This is not an approximation—the distances [latex]{r}_{\text{1}}[/latex] and [latex]{r}_{\text{2}}[/latex] are the distances to points directly below the center of gravity of each child. As we shall see in the next section, the mass and weight of a system can act as if they are located at a single point.

Finally, note that the concept of torque has an importance beyond static equilibrium. Torque plays the same role in rotational motion that force plays in linear motion. We will examine this in the next chapter.