MOMENTS
MOMENT OF A FORCE—SCALAR
FORMULATION
When a force is applied to a body it will produce a tendency for the
body to rotate about a point that is not on the line of action of the
force. This tendency to rotate is sometimes called a torque, but most
often it is called the moment of a force or simply the moment.
MOMENT MAGNITUDE AND
DIRECTION
MAGNITUDE
where d is the moment arm or perpendicular distance from the
axis at point O to the line of action of the force. Units of
moment magnitude consist of force times distance, e.g., N-m
The direction of Mo is defined by its moment axis, which DIRECTION
is perpendicular to the plane that contains the force F and its
moment arm d. The right-hand rule is used to establish the
sense of direction of Mo, where the natural curl of the fingers
of the right hand, as they are drawn toward the palm,
represent the rotation, or the tendency for rotation caused by
the moment
RESULTANT MOMENT
As a convention, we will generally consider positive moments as
counterclockwise since they are directed along the positive z axis (out
of the page). Clockwise moments will be negative
MOMENT OF A FORCE
PRINCIPLE OF MOMENTS
A concept often used in mechanics is the principle of moments, which
is sometimes referred to as Varignon’s theorem since it was originally
developed by the French mathematician Pierre Varignon (1654–1722).
“It states that the moment of a force about a point is equal to the sum
of the moments of the components of the force about the point”
PRINCIPLE OF MOMENTS
SOLVED EXAMPLE NUMBER 1
EXAMPLE 2
Force F acts at the end of the angle bracket in figure. Determine
the moment of the force about point O
PRACTICE EXAMPLE 3
Determine the resultant moment produced by the forces about point O
CROSS PRODUCT
The cross product of two vectors A and B yields the vector C, which is
Written
MAGNITUDE
The magnitude of C is defined as the product of the
magnitudes of A and B and the sine of the angle theta
between their tails
CROSS PRODUCT DIRECTION
Vector C has a direction that is perpendicular to the
plane containing A and B such that the directional sense
of C is specified by the right-hand rule; i.e., curling the
fingers of the right hand from vector A (cross) to vector
B, the thumb points in the direction of C
LAWS OF OPERATION
CARTESIAN VECTOR
FORMULATION
VECTOR CARTESIAN AND
MATRIX
HOW TO USE MATRIX
MOMENT OF A FORCE—VECTOR
FORMULATION
The moment of a force F about point O, can be expressed
using the vector cross product
Here r represents a position vector directed
from O to any point on the line of action of F.
We will now show that indeed the moment MO,
when determined by this cross product, has
the proper magnitude and direction
MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION
Principle of Transmissibility
Since F can be applied at any point along its line of
action and still create this same moment about point O,
then F can be considered a sliding vector. This property
is called the principle of transmissibility of a force
CARTESIAN VECTOR
FORMULATION
SOLUTION OF MATRIX AND
VECTOR COMPONENTS
Resultant Moment of a System
of Forces
SAMPLE PROBLEM 4
• Determine the moment produced by the force F in
Figure about
point O. Express the result as a Cartesian vector
SAMPLE PROBLEM 5
Two forces act on the rod shown in Figure. Determine the
resultant moment they create about the flange at O.
Express the result as a Cartesian vector
MOMENT OF A FORCE ABOUT
A SPECIFIED AXIS
GENERAL PRINCIPLE
GENERAL PRINCIPLE
SAMPLE PROBLEM 6
Determine the moment Mab produced by the force F in Figure,
which tends to rotate the rod about the AB axis
SAMPLE PROBLEM 7
Determine the magnitude of the moment of force F about segment
OA of the pipe assembly
SAMPLE PROBLEM 8
Determine the resultant moment of the three forces in Figure about
the x axis, the y axis, and the z axis
MOMENT OF A COUPLE
A couple is defined as two parallel forces that have the same
magnitude, but opposite directions, and are separated by a
perpendicular distance d
Since the resultant force is zero, the only effect of a couple is to
produce a rotation, or if no movement is possible, there is a tendency
for rotation
VECTOR FORMULATION OF A
COUPLE
SCALAR FORMULATION OF A
COUPLE
where F is the magnitude of one of the forces and d is the
perpendicular distance or moment arm between the forces.
The direction and sense of the couple moment are determined
by the right-hand rule, where the thumb indicates this direction
when the fingers are curled with the sense of rotation caused
by the couple forces
RESULTANT COUPLE MOMENT
• Since couple moments are free vectors, their resultant
can be determined by moving them to a single point
and using vector addition. For example, to find the
resultant of couple moments M 1 and M 2 acting on the
pipe assembly
SAMPLE PROBLEM 9
SAMPLE PROBLEM 10
Two couples act on the beam. If the resultant couple is to be zero,
determine the magnitudes of P and F, and the distance d between A
and B
END OF MIDTERM
LECTURES!!!
