Moments and Turning Forces

The Lifting Challenge

 Who is strongest?
What affects the turning force?
 Hold a rod horizontally
and hang a weight on
distance the rod near your
hand.
 Have your partner
move the weight away
from your hand, try to
Force keep the rod
horizontal.
 What happens?
 Now try it with a
heavier weight.
 What do you think?
 How is the turning force or moment
affected by the distance from the pivot?
 As the perpendicular distance increases
the turning force increases
 How is the moment affected by the force
(effort) exerted?
 As the force increases the moment
increases
 Can you be more quantitative?
 How is the moment affected by the
distance from the pivot?
 As the perpendicular distance doubles the
turning force doubles
 How is the moment affected by the force
(effort) exerted?
 As the force doubles the moment doubles
 Therefore
Moment = Force x perpendicular
distance to pivot
Unit for Moment

 Determine the unit for the moment

of a force.
Moment = Force x perpendicular
distance to pivot
 Newton metre (Nm)
Is Moment a vector quantity?

 Does the direction matter?

 Calculate the moments below. In which
direction are they acting? Clockwise or
Anticlockwise?

Moments can either be

clockwise or
anticlockwise.
What if there is more than one force
acting?

 Find the total moment acting on the bar

above.
 When more than one force acts in the
same direction, their overall turning
effect is just the sum of their
moments.
Moments Circus

 There are six stations.

 Using the sheet provided record the
effort used on each object and
measure the perpendicular
distance to the pivot
 Finally, calculate the moment.
 Do not forget units!!
Experiment -Testing the principle of
moments

 Using the apparatus given

investigate the principle of
moments.
 Experiment -Testing the principle of
moments
 What did you notice
about the
anticlockwise moment
and the clockwise
moment?

 When forces act in a different direction, yet still

balance, the total turning effect in each direction will
be the same:

 sum of clockwise moments = sum of anticlockwise

moments