Torque
Turning force around an axis / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force.[1] It is also referred to as the moment of force (also abbreviated to moment). It describes the rate of change of angular momentum that would be imparted to an isolated body.
Torque | |
---|---|
Common symbols | , M |
SI unit | N⋅m |
Other units | pound-force-feet, lbf⋅inch, ozf⋅in |
In SI base units | kg⋅m2⋅s−2 |
Dimension |
The concept originated with the studies by Archimedes of the usage of levers, which is reflected in his famous quote: "Give me a lever and a place to stand and I will move the Earth". Just as a linear force is a push or a pull applied to a body, a torque can be thought of as a twist applied to an object with respect to a chosen point. Torque is defined as the product of the magnitude of the perpendicular component of the force and the distance of the line of action of a force from the point around which it is being determined. The law of conservation of energy can also be used to understand torque. The symbol for torque is typically , the lowercase Greek letter tau. When being referred to as moment of force, it is commonly denoted by M.
In three dimensions, the torque is a pseudovector; for point particles, it is given by the cross product of the displacement vector and the force vector. The magnitude of torque applied to a rigid body depends on three quantities: the force applied, the lever arm vector[2] connecting the point about which the torque is being measured to the point of force application, and the angle between the force and lever arm vectors. In symbols:
where
- is the torque vector and is the magnitude of the torque,
- is the position vector (a vector from the point about which the torque is being measured to the point where the force is applied), and r is the magnitude of the position vector,
- is the force vector, and F is the magnitude of the force vector,
- denotes the cross product, which produces a vector that is perpendicular both to r and to F following the right-hand rule,
- is the angle between the force vector and the lever arm vector.
The SI unit for torque is the newton-metre (N⋅m). For more on the units of torque, see § Units.
The term torque (from Latin torquēre, 'to twist') is said to have been suggested by James Thomson and appeared in print in April, 1884.[3][4][5] Usage is attested the same year by Silvanus P. Thompson in the first edition of Dynamo-Electric Machinery.[5] Thompson motivates the term as follows:[4]
Just as the Newtonian definition of force is that which produces or tends to produce motion (along a line), so torque may be defined as that which produces or tends to produce torsion (around an axis). It is better to use a term which treats this action as a single definite entity than to use terms like "couple" and "moment", which suggest more complex ideas. The single notion of a twist applied to turn a shaft is better than the more complex notion of applying a linear force (or a pair of forces) with a certain leverage.
Today, torque is referred to using different vocabulary depending on geographical location and field of study. This article follows the definition used in US physics in its usage of the word torque.[6]
In the UK and in US mechanical engineering, torque is referred to as moment of force, usually shortened to moment.[7] This terminology can be traced back to at least 1811 in Siméon Denis Poisson's Traité de mécanique.[8] An English translation of Poisson's work appears in 1842.
A force applied perpendicularly to a lever multiplied by its distance from the lever's fulcrum (the length of the lever arm) is its torque. A force of three newtons applied two metres from the fulcrum, for example, exerts the same torque as a force of one newton applied six metres from the fulcrum. The direction of the torque can be determined by using the right hand grip rule: if the fingers of the right hand are curled from the direction of the lever arm to the direction of the force, then the thumb points in the direction of the torque.[9]
More generally, the torque on a point particle (which has the position r in some reference frame) can be defined as the cross product:
where F is the force acting on the particle. The magnitude τ of the torque is given by
where F is the magnitude of the force applied, and θ is the angle between the position and force vectors. Alternatively,
where F⊥ is the amount of force directed perpendicularly to the position of the particle. Any force directed parallel to the particle's position vector does not produce a torque.[10][11]
It follows from the properties of the cross product that the torque vector is perpendicular to both the position and force vectors. Conversely, the torque vector defines the plane in which the position and force vectors lie. The resulting torque vector direction is determined by the right-hand rule.[10]
The net torque on a body determines the rate of change of the body's angular momentum,
where L is the angular momentum vector and t is time.
For the motion of a point particle,
where I is the moment of inertia and ω is the orbital angular velocity pseudovector. It follows that
using the derivative of a vector is
This equation is the rotational analogue of Newton's second law for point particles, and is valid for any type of trajectory. In some simple cases like a rotating disc, where only the moment of inertia on rotating axis is, the rotational Newton's second law can be
where and .
Proof of the equivalence of definitions
The definition of angular momentum for a single point particle is:
where p is the particle's linear momentum and r is the position vector from the origin. The time-derivative of this is:
This result can easily be proven by splitting the vectors into components and applying the product rule. Now using the definition of force (whether or not mass is constant) and the definition of velocity
The cross product of momentum with its associated velocity is zero because velocity and momentum are parallel, so the second term vanishes.
By definition, torque τ = r × F. Therefore, torque on a particle is equal to the first derivative of its angular momentum with respect to time.
If multiple forces are applied, Newton's second law instead reads Fnet = ma, and it follows that
This is a general proof for point particles.
The proof can be generalized to a system of point particles by applying the above proof to each of the point particles and then summing over all the point particles. Similarly, the proof can be generalized to a continuous mass by applying the above proof to each point within the mass, and then integrating over the entire mass.
Torque has the dimension of force times distance, symbolically T−2L2M. Although those fundamental dimensions are the same as that for energy or work, official SI literature suggests using the unit newton-metre (N⋅m) and never the joule.[12][13] The unit newton-metre is properly denoted N⋅m.[13]
The traditional imperial and U.S. customary units for torque are the pound foot (lbf-ft), or for small values the pound inch (lbf-in). In the US, torque is most commonly referred to as the foot-pound (denoted as either lb-ft or ft-lb) and the inch-pound (denoted as in-lb).[14][15] Practitioners depend on context and the hyphen in the abbreviation to know that these refer to torque and not to energy or moment of mass (as the symbolism ft-lb would properly imply).
Moment arm formula
A very useful special case, often given as the definition of torque in fields other than physics, is as follows:
The construction of the "moment arm" is shown in the figure to the right, along with the vectors r and F mentioned above. The problem with this definition is that it does not give the direction of the torque but only the magnitude, and hence it is difficult to use in three-dimensional cases. If the force is perpendicular to the displacement vector r, the moment arm will be equal to the distance to the centre, and torque will be a maximum for the given force. The equation for the magnitude of a torque, arising from a perpendicular force:
For example, if a person places a force of 10 N at the terminal end of a wrench that is 0.5 m long (or a force of 10 N acting 0.5 m from the twist point of a wrench of any length), the torque will be 5 N⋅m – assuming that the person moves the wrench by applying force in the plane of movement and perpendicular to the wrench.
Static equilibrium
For an object to be in static equilibrium, not only must the sum of the forces be zero, but also the sum of the torques (moments) about any point. For a two-dimensional situation with horizontal and vertical forces, the sum of the forces requirement is two equations: ΣH = 0 and ΣV = 0, and the torque a third equation: Στ = 0. That is, to solve statically determinate equilibrium problems in two-dimensions, three equations are used.
Net force versus torque
When the net force on the system is zero, the torque measured from any point in space is the same. For example, the torque on a current-carrying loop in a uniform magnetic field is the same regardless of the point of reference. If the net force is not zero, and is the torque measured from , then the torque measured from is
Torque forms part of the basic specification of an engine: the power output of an engine is expressed as its torque multiplied by the angular speed of the drive shaft. Internal-combustion engines produce useful torque only over a limited range of rotational speeds (typically from around 1,000–6,000 rpm for a small car). One can measure the varying torque output over that range with a dynamometer, and show it as a torque curve.
Steam engines and electric motors tend to produce maximum torque close to zero rpm, with the torque diminishing as rotational speed rises (due to increasing friction and other constraints). Reciprocating steam-engines and electric motors can start heavy loads from zero rpm without a clutch.