MOMENTS

A MOMENT is the turning affect of a force, commonly known as Torque.

Lecture Notes:
1. Moment Definition
The Moment of a force is the turning effect about a piot point. To !eelop a moment, the force must act upon the bo!y to attempt to rotate it. A
moment is can occur when forces are equal an! opposite but not !irectly in line with each other.
The Moment of a force acting about a point or a"is is foun! by multiplying the #orce $#% by the perpen!icular !istance from the a"is $!%, calle!
the lever arm.
Moment = Force x Perpendicular Distance
M = F x d
$Nm% & $N% " $m%
Notes'
(. )lockwise is a positie moment.
*. Take care with units here + especially with mm. ,t is best to conert eerything to m first.
2. Perpendicular Leer !rm
The force is not always perpen!icular to the gien leer arm. ,n this case, the correct perpen!icular !istance must be !etermine!. $-y the way,
the perpen!icular !istance is also the ./O0TE.T !istance between the force an! the piot point.%
)alculating the perpen!icular $shortest% !istance'
" .Moment s Tor#ue
There is no !ifference really, both are turning effects an! both are measure! in Nm.
A te"tbook !efinition: A turning effect is calle! Moment in static situations $with no motion%. ,n !ynamics applications $with moement% a
turning effect is calle! Tor#ue. .o a spinning motor shaft has torque, but a leer has moment. This is the te"tbook !efinition, but in practice the
two terms are often use! interchangeably. E.g. 1Torque wrench1
$. E#uili%rium of Moments
2hen !ealing with moments, equilibrium e"ists when the total moment is 3ero. $Otherwise it will accelerate in rotation, angular acceleration%.
Mathematically this is ery simple + a!! the clockwise moments an! subtract the anticlockwise ones.
#or equilibrium of moments'
1Taking clockwise as positie, the sum of all moments about point A is 3ero1
These calculations are ery simple. The most common mistake is not getting the perpen!icular $shortest% !istance between piot an! force.
Another thing to watch is not keeping track of the signs $)2 or ))2 moments%.
&. Force 'ouples
Two equal forces of opposite !irection, with a !istance ! between them will cause a moment, where'
A special case of moments is a couple. A couple consists of two parallel forces that are equal in magnitu!e, opposite in sense an! !o not share a
line of action. ,t !oes not pro!uce any translation, only rotation. The resultant force of a couple is 3ero, but it pro!uces a pure moment.
A tap wrench is an e"ample of a couple. The two han! forces are equal but opposite !irection.
Taking moments about the centre $both clockwise%'
Moment & # 4 ! 5 # 4 ! & *#!
The moment cause! by a couple & The force 4 the !istance between them.
(. Moments a%out an) Point (Varignons Theorem)
,n equilibrium, the sum of moments about any point is 3ero.
Principle of Moments* or +ari,non-s T.eorem
6The moment cause! by the resultant force $of some system of forces% about some arbitrary point is equal to the sum of the moments !ue to all
of the component forces of the system.7
Ama3ingly, you can choose AN8 point an! it still works9 .o we usually pick somewhere that is easy to calculate + like at the intersection of
seeral forces so we !on:t hae to inclu!e them in the calculation $because !istance & ;, hence M&;%
,n the tap+wrench e"ample aboe, we can also take the moment about the left force:
Moment & # 4 *! & *#!
,t !oesn:t matter which point you piot aroun!, the moment is always 3ero. This is ery han!y when !oing calculations.
#or a bo!y in equilibrium, the total moment about AN8 point is always 3ero. .o we usually pick a point that makes our calculations easier.
<emonstration of =arignon:s Theorem
The Principle of Moments, also known as +ari,non/s T.eorem, states that the moment of any force is equal to the algebraic sum of
the moments of the components of that force. ,t is a ery important principle that is often use! in con>unction with the ?rinciple of
Transmissibility in or!er to sole systems of forces that are acting upon an!@or within a structure. This concept will be illustrate! by
calculating the moment aroun! the bolt cause! by the (;; N force at points A, -, ), <, an! E in the illustration.
First consider t.e 100 N force.
.ince the line of action of the force is not perpen!icular to the wrench at A, the force is broken !own into its orthogonal components.
The A;mm hori3ontal an! the B;mm !iagonal measurement near point A shoul! be recogni3e! as belonging to a C+A+B triangle.
Therefore, #" & +A@B$(;; N% or +D; N an! #y & +C@B$(;; N% or +E; N.
'onsider Point !.
The line of action of #" at A passes through the han!le of the wrench to the bolt $which is also the center of moments%. This means that
the magnitu!e of the moment arm is 3ero an! therefore the moment !ue to #A" is 3ero. #Ay at A has a moment arm of twenty mm an!
will ten! to cause a positie moment.
#Ay ! & $E; N%$*;;mm% & 1200 Nmm
The total moment cause! by the (;; N force # at point A is (*;; Nmm $(.*Nm%.
'onsider Point 1.
At this point the (;; N force is perpen!icular to the wrench. Thus, the total moment !ue to the force can easily be foun! without
breaking it into components.
#- ! & $(;; N%$(*;mm% & 1200 Nmm
The total moment cause! by the (;; N force # at point - is again (*;; Nmm $(.*Nm%.
'onsider Point '.
The force must once again be !ecompose! into components. This time the ertical component passes through the center of moments.
The hori3ontal component #)" causes the entire moment.
#)" ! & $D; N%$(B;mm% & 1200 Nmm
'onsider Point D.
The force must once again be !ecompose! into components. -oth components will contribute to the total moment.
#<" ! & $D; N%$*(;mm% & (ED; Nmm
#<y ! & $E; N%$D;mm% & +AD; Nmm
Note that the y component in this case woul! create a counterclockwise or negatie rotation. The total moment at < !ue to the (;; N
force is !etermine! by a!!ing the two component moments. Not surprisingly, this yiel!s 1200 Nm.
'onsider Point E.
#ollowing the same proce!ure as at point <.
#E" ! & $D; N%$C;mm% & +*A; Nmm
#Ey ! & $E; N%$*A;mm% & (AA; Nmm
/oweer, this time #" ten!s to cause a negatie moment. Once again the total moment is 1200 Nmm.
At each point, A, -, ), < an! E the total moment aroun! the bolt cause! by the (;; N force equalle! (*;; Nmm. ,n fact, the total
moment woul! equal (*;; Nmm at AN8 point along the line of action of the force. This is =arignon:s Theorem.
-ase! on http:@@!arkwing.uoregon.e!u@FGEstruct@courseware@AE(@AE(Hlectures@AE(Hlecture(;@AE(Hlecture(;.html
2. Moment of a 3esultant
,t turns out that when we a!! up the moment of seeral forces we get the same answer as taking the moment of the resultant.
To obtain the total moment of a system of forces, we can either...
(. )alculate each moment $from each force separately% an! a!! them up, keeping in min! the )2 an! ))2 sign conention.
*. )alculate the moment cause! by the resultant of the system of forces about that point.
4. Moment of Force 'omponents
This means we can !o the opposite too +we can break the force into components to easily fin! each moment. This is a common trick for soling
comple" moment problems because it usually makes it much easier to fin! the perpen!icular !istances to each force. $/oweer, een this is
pretty easy when the problem is !rawn up using )A<%
Simple 5or6ed Examples
17 Simple Moment
A mass of C;kg pushes on a leer
$crank% (G;mm long. 2hat moment
!oes it cause about the centre shaftI
M & # 4 !
)onert to correct units'
# & C; 4 J.D( & *JA.CN
! & ;.(Gm
M & *JA.C 4 ;.(G & B;.;CNm
27 Moment E#uli%rium
,f the system is balance!
$equilibrium%,

5 $B K ;LB;% + $ # " ;.*B% & ;
.o force # & *LB; Nm M ;L*B m & (;
N
,n or!er to balance the B N force
acting at ;LB m from the piot, we
require (; N on the opposite si!e at
;L*Bm.
,f in equilibrium, the anticlockwise turning effect of force # must equal the clockwise turning
effect of the BN loa!.
"7 ! couple
/an! forces #& *BN an! !istance ! &
(A;mm. #in! Moment M applie! to
the tapping cutter.
Moment & *4#4!
& * 4 *B 4 ;.(A
& GNm
$7 Perpendicular distance
,f these wheel nuts must be tightene!
to DBNm, what is the force #I
Angle & CB !egrees, ! & A*;mm.
#rom M & # 4 !, then # & M @ !
?erpen!icular !istance & ! 4 cos $CB%
# & DB @ $;.A* 4 cos$CB%%
& *AG.;E N
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