PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

Purpose
In this experiment we will use the principle of rotational equilibrium to create a simple
mass scale using a meter stick. We will investigate the concept of center of gravity and
torque and we will calculate the torques produced by various weights.

Principles
Translational and Rotational Equilibrium

In order for a particle to be in static equilibrium (i.e., stationary over time), the sum of
the forces on it must be zero:

F 0

A particle is an idealized entity with no size or shape: a mass point. Real-world objects
(chairs, buildings, people, etc.,) are composed of systems of particles. It is possible for a
system of particles to remain in the same place over time, and yet not be stationary: it
can rotate in place. For a system of particles to be in static equilibrium there are two
conditions: it must be in translational equilibrium and it must be in rotational
equilibrium.

Translational equilibrium means the system is not changing its location. For a rigid body
(i.e., a solid as opposed to a liquid or gas), translational equilibrium means that at least
one point in the body is stationary.

Rotational equilibrium means the system is not rotating about any axis. It will be helpful
to consider carefully what we mean by a rotation. Refer to Diagram 1, which depicts a
board nailed to the wall. Suppose the board is free to move about the nail.

Here, the nail is fixed in place. Since this one point is fixed in space, the board is in
translational equilibrium. If we give the board a spin, each point in the board will travel
in a circle about the nail. To be more precise, each point travels in a circle about a line
through the nail and perpendicular to the wall (perpendicular to the page in the diagram).
This line is called the axis of rotation.

A rotation, then, is the motion of a rigid body such that at least one point in the body is
fixed in place (usually it is a line of points) and the other points travel in a circle around
this line.

May 05 77
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

rotation

typical mass point

nail

path of typical
point

Diagram 1

To be in translational equilibrium, the sum of the forces on the body must be zero, just as
for a single particle. To be in rotational equilibrium, the turning effect of all the forces
must also be zero. We call the turning effect of a force a torque (). For a rigid body to
be in static equilibrium we must have both:

(1) F
i
i 0 and 
i
i 0

Torque

The torque that a force exerts on a rigid body depends on three things: the magnitude of
the force, the direction of the force, and where on the body the force is applied. Refer to
Diagram 2, which depicts an arbitrary two-dimensional object with a fixed point (a metal
plate nailed to the wall, say) being acted upon by a force applied at a particular point in
the object. We define torque as:
  
 rF

May 05 78
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

This is a vector that points in the direction of the axis of rotation. The vector r runs from
the point about which the torque is to be evaluated to the point of application of the force
F. Torques can be evaluated about any point, but we usually choose a convenient point
such as the center of mass or a point on the axis of rotation.

In the diagram below, using the axis of rotation as our reference point, the magnitude of
the torque can be expressed as

(2)   F

where F is the magnitude of the force and  is called the lever arm. The lever arm is the
perpendicular distance from the axis of rotation to the line of action of the force. Note
that in the diagram,   r sin  , where r is the distance from the axis of rotation to the
point of application of the force. The angle  depends on the direction of the force.

Axis (out
of page)

r 


l F

Diagram 2

The units of torque are newton-meters.

In this experiment we will use a meter stick (essentially a one-dimensional object)

balanced on a support as the rigid body. At equilibrium, the forces will always be
perpendicular to the stick, so that  =  90 degrees, and sin =  1, depending on
whether the force is upward (+) or downward (-), so that except for the sign we can
ignore the angular dependence of the torques. (But do not ignore it in general.)

May 05 79
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

Our set up is indicated in Diagram 3. The triangle represents the support; the axis of
rotation is at the tip of the triangle, perpendicular to the page. If we exert forces on the
meter stick (F1 and F2 in the diagram), then the lever arms associated with each force (
1 and  2 ) are as indicated – the distances along the stick from the axis of rotation to
the point of application of the force.

We can set up a coordinate system along the meter stick, with position coordinate x
measured by the stick itself. We can express the lever arm for any force acting on the
meter stick as:

(3a) i  x i  x 0 (upward force)

(3b) i  x 0  x i (downward force)

where x0 is the position of the axis of rotation and xi is the point where force Fi acts.

FN
F2
F1

l1 l2

Support & axis of

rotation (out of
page)

Diagram 3

Rotations have directions: they can be clockwise or counterclockwise. It is customary to

treat the counterclockwise direction as positive and the clockwise direction as negative.
Torques are also positive or negative, depending on the direction of the rotation they
engender. Thus, two or more torques can sum to zero, resulting in rotational equilibrium.

May 05 80
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

The expressions for the lever arm (3a and 3b) take the direction of the torque into
account. We see that a downward force exerted at the low end of the stick (xi < x0)
results in a positive (counterclockwise) torque and a downward force at the high end (xi
> x0) results in a negative (clockwise) torque. Upward forces would reverse these
directions.

Also note that when the force is applied at the axis of rotation (xi = x0), the lever arm is
zero and so is the torque. Thus the support itself (which exerts an upward force on the
stick, indicated by FN in Diagram 3) does not exert a torque.

A Meter Stick Mass Scale: the Method of Moments

We can use the principle of rotational equilibrium to weigh objects with our meter stick
(a triple-beam balance works on just this principle). Diagram 4 illustrates the set-up.

l1 l2

W1 W2

Diagram 4

We first place the meter stick on the support stand at the stick’s balance point (this point
is called the center of gravity – we will discuss this further below). When the stick is
balanced (horizontal and not rotating), it must be in rotational equilibrium: the sum of the
torques on it is zero.

We place a reference mass m1 at a known location on the stick. The weight of m1 exerts a
torque on the stick and makes it rotate away from equilibrium:

 1  W11  m1 g1

with 1  x 0  x1 , the position of the support minus the position of m1.

May 05 81
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

We then place our unknown mass (m2) on the other side of the stick and adjust its
position until the stick balances again. The unknown mass exerts a torque in the opposite
sense on the stick:

 2  W2 g 2  m2 g 2

with  2  x0  x 2 , the position of the support minus the position of the unknown mass.
When the meter stick returns to equilibrium, we must have:


i
i  m1 g1  m2 g 2  0

so that m 2  2 g  m11 g , or

m11
(4) m2  
2

This, of course, is nothing more than the “seesaw principle” that we encounter at a
children’s playground.

Note that in the above, the factor g appears in each term of the equation and thus cancels
out. The product m (a mass times a length) is called a moment of force. This method of
determining mass is called the method of moments.

Center of Gravity

In the above example we did not consider the meter stick’s own weight. When we started
the above procedure, we placed the support at the stick’s “balance point”. With no other
masses hanging off of it, the stick was in equilibrium: the sum of the forces on it was zero
and the sum of the torques on it was zero. Now the support exerted a force on the stick,
which must have been equal and opposite to the stick’s own weight. As discussed above,
the support exerted zero torque on the stick because the lever arm for the support was
zero. Since the sum of the torques was zero, the torque exerted by the stick’s own weight
must also have been zero.

Now the stick is definitely not weightless. The only way for its weight to have exerted
zero torque was for its lever arm to be zero. That means the weight of the stick also must
have acted at the balance point.

Intuitively, we might have expected this to be the case. But it would be worthwhile to
pause a moment and consider what this means. The weight of the meter stick is
distributed all along the stick. For the purposes of calculating torques, however, all of the

May 05 82
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

weight of the stick acts as if it were concentrated at the balance point. In fact, we can
prove that for any rigid body there is a point at which, for the purposes of calculating
torques, all of its weight seems to act. This point is called the center of gravity.

Weighing the meter stick with the meter stick

This will be brought home more clearly in the next procedure. Refer to Diagram 5,
which depicts a meter stick in equilibrium, supported not at its center of gravity. The
center of gravity is indicated by the dark spot and has purposely been placed off-center to
emphasize the fact that the center of gravity is not necessarily the center of the stick. (In
fact, it is unlikely that the center of gravity for any of the meter sticks we will use will
turn out to be in the exact middle of the stick.)

The axis of rotation is above the triangular support. At equilibrium, all torques must sum
to zero, so:

m11 g  m s  s g  0

where ms and  s are the mass and lever arm of the stick itself, with  s  x0  x s , the
position of the axis of rotation minus the position of the center of gravity of the stick. We
can determine the position of the center of gravity of the stick by first balancing the stick
with no extra weight on it. Then we can solve the above equation for ms:

m11
(5) ms  
s

which is exactly like equation (4) except for a change of subscripts. Thus the meter stick
acts as if it were a mass hanging off itself!

May 05 83
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

c.g.

m1
Ws

W1

Diagram 5

Predicting an Equilibrium Position

In our third procedure, we will hang two masses from the meter stick and use the
equilibrium principle to predict where the support must be placed so that the system will
balance. The set-up is illustrated in Diagram 6.

x1 x0 xs x2

c.g
.

W1 W2
Ws

Diagram 6

This time we will place two specified masses, m1 and m2, at fixed positions on the stick.
We want to find where the support must be placed (x0) so that the system is in
equilibrium. It is left to you to show that

May 05 84
PHYS 2211L LAB 7

Torque & Equilibrium

m1 x1  m2 x 2  m s x s
(6) x0 
m1  m2  m s

Note: do not assume that x0 will be to the left of the center of gravity, as in the
illustration. It depends entirely on the masses and their location and could go either way.

The position x0 is the center of gravity for the meter stick and two masses. Note that it is
also the center of mass for the system. The center of mass for any system of masses is
defined as:

m x i i
xcm  i

where M is the total mass of the system. In our case then, the center of gravity is the
same as the center of mass. This will be the case whenever the gravitational field is
uniform in magnitude and direction, but it is not true in general. For instance, the center
of mass of the Earth-Moon system about the Sun is not the same as its center of gravity,
since the forces on the Earth and Moon are not parallel.

May 05 85
Torque & Equilibrium Lab 7

Experiments

We will use a meter stick balanced on a support to measure the torques exerted by
hanging masses. As described in the Theory section, a torque can be calculated from

  F

(torque equals force times lever arm.) The forces will be the weights of the hanging
masses. The lever arms should be measured from the point of support to the hanging
mass. Torques can be positive or negative; see equations 3a & 3b, above for a useful
convention for the sign of the lever arms in this lab.

Torques should be expressed in units of Newton-meters. For the method of moments,

however, the results depend only on the ratio of the masses involved, so one can work in
units of grams and centimeters and no unit conversion is necessary.

The experiments can be outlined as follows:

1. Find the center of gravity of the meter stick.

2. Weigh the unknown mass by the method of moments.
3. Weigh the meter stick by the method of moments.
4. Predict the balance point when 2 masses are hung from the meter stick and
calculate the individual torques.

Equipment

 Meter stick  String or small mass hangers

 Support stand  100 gram mass
 Knife edge clamps with  50 gram mass
hanging bail (2)  Unknown mass
 Knife edge clamp without  Triple-beam balance
bail (1)

Procedures

Note: It is important that you measure all positions to the nearest millimeter, as accurately as possible.
“Balanced” in the following means that the meter stick is horizontal and not rocking.

1. Measure the masses

 For comparison purposes, use the triple-beam balance to find the mass of the
meter stick and the unknown mass. Record this data.
Torque & Equilibrium Lab 7

Experiments

 Find the masses of the knife-edge clamps and any mass hangers used in the
experiment. Record your data.
Note: Keep track of which clamp is which. Not all clamps are alike and you must take the mass
of the clamps and hangers into account in your calculations.

2. Find the center of gravity of the meter stick.

 Insert the meter stick into the center clamp (the knife-edge clamp that has no
hanging bail) and set the knife-edges of the clamp into the slots in the support
stand. The tightening screw on the clamp should be on the down side.
 With the screw loose, shift the meter stick back and forth through the clamp until
the stick is balanced. Tighten the screw.
 Remove the stick from the stand and read the position of the knife-edges on the
clamp. (The edge of the cut-away sections on either side of the clamp line up with
the knife edges and is easier to read.) This is the center of gravity of the meter
stick. Record this. Leave the clamp tightened so that it stays at the center of
gravity.

2. Weigh the unknown mass by the method of moments.

 Place the meter stick back in the support stand. Record the position of the support
stand (the axis of rotation) as x0.
 Place a knife-edge clamp (with hanging bail down) at 30.0 cm on the stick. Hang
a 100-g mass from the clamp using a piece of string or a small mass hanger.
Record the total mass hanging at this position as m1. Record the position as x1.
 Hang the unknown mass from another knife-edge clamp on the other side of the
support stand.
 Move the clamp with the unknown mass back and forth until the system balances.
Record this position as x2.

Analysis:

 Draw a diagram of the meter stick and masses. Indicate the lever arms and the
forces for each mass on the diagram.
 Set up the torque equations for the system at equilibrium (   i  0 ) and solve it
i

algebraically for the unknown mass.

 Use your equation to calculate the total mass hanging at x2. Calculate the
unknown mass by subtracting the mass of the clamp and/or hanger. Record your
result.
 Calculate the range of error for the unknown mass, based on the uncertainties in
the lever arms,  , and the uncertainty in the reference mass, m1 . Since we
Torque & Equilibrium Lab 7

Experiments

measured the lever arms to the nearest millimeter, we can estimate  = 1 mm.
Similarly, estimate m1 as one gram (or less if you measured it to greater
precision). Which uncertainty has the greater effect?
 Find the percent error between your calculated value for the unknown mass and
that determined using the triple-beam balance. Does the measured value fall
within your range of error?

3. Determine the meter stick mass by the method of moments.

 Remove the unknown mass and its hanger. Leave m1 where it is.
 Loosen the screw of the center clamp and slide the meter stick back and forth
through it until the system balances. Tighten the screw and read the position of
the center clamp. Record this as x0, the position of the axis of rotation.

Analysis

 Draw a force diagram of the set-up with the forces and lever arms indicated.
Remember that the weight of the meter stick acts at its center of gravity, which
you determined in Procedure 1.
 Set up and solve the torque equation for the mass of the meter stick. Calculate the
mass of the stick and record your result.
 Calculate the range of error in the mass of the stick based on the uncertainties in
the reference mass and the lever arms.
 Calculate the percent error between your calculated value and that determined by
the triple-beam balance.

4. Predict the balance point for two masses on the stick.

 Use equation (6) to predict the balance point when 100 grams are hung at 30.0 cm
and 50 grams are hung at 65.0 cm. (These masses do not include the masses of the
clamps and/or hangers. You must include these extra masses in your calculations.)
Record your prediction.
 Hang these masses and determine the balance point experimentally. Record the
experimental result for x0.

Analysis

 Diagram the set-up, indicating all forces and lever arms. Include in the diagram any
forces that exert no torques.
 Derive equation (6) using the definitions of torque and lever arm and the fact that the
system is in equilibrium (   i  0 ).
i
Torque & Equilibrium Lab 7

Experiments

 Take the percent difference between your prediction and the experimental result.
 Referring to your diagram, decide which forces create counterclockwise torques and
calculate the sum of these torques.
 Referring to your diagram, decide which forces create clockwise torques and
calculate the sum of these torques.
 Take the percent difference between the absolute values of the clockwise sum and the
counterclockwise sum.

Optional Analysis

 Use your data and your diagram to recalculate the net torque on the system using
the end of the meter stick as the point of reference for calculating torques. That
is, take the end of the stick as the assumed axis of rotation (x0 = 0) and calculate
the lever arms from this point. This time you must include the torque created by
the upward force of the support. (The support’s location has not changed – only
our reference point has changed. Why did we not consider this force before?)
 Show algebraically that if the system is in equilibrium, the net torque will sum to
zero about any point. (After all, if the system is in equilibrium it is not rotating
and there is no “axis of rotation”. We have been using the point of support
because it is convenient and because that is the point about which the system
rotates when it is not in equilibrium.)
Torque & Equilibrium Lab 7

Data

Note: Your data should be recorded in your lab notebook. The following is a guide
only.

Preliminary Data

Unknown mass _______________ Clamp/hanger masses:

1. _______________

Mass of meter stick: _______________ 2. _______________

3. _______________

Center of gravity _______________ 4. _______________

(meter stick)
5. _______________

6. _______________

Unknown Mass (Method of Moments)

m1 _______________

x0 _______________

x1 _______________ 1 _______________

x2 _______________  2 _______________

m2 _______________ unknown mass _______________

Δm2 ____________ % error __________

Torque & Equilibrium Lab 7

Data

Meter Stick Mass (Method of Moments)

m1 ______________

x0 _______________

x1 _______________ 1 _______________

xs _______________  s _______________

ms _______________ Δms ______________

% error __________

Balance Point with Two Masses

m1 _______________ m2 _______________

x1 _______________ x2 _______________

Predicted x0 _______________ Experimental x0 _______________

% difference __________________

Clockwise torques __________ Counterclockwise torques __________

% difference ____________ (use absolute values)