Article 2/8 Moment and Couple 75

To gain more confidence in the cross-product relationship, exam-

ine the three components of the moment of a force about a point as F
Fz
obtained from Fig. 2/22. This figure shows the three components of a
force F acting at a point A located relative to O by the vector r. The z
scalar magnitudes of the moments of these forces about the positive Fy
A
x-, y-, and z-axes through O can be obtained from the moment-arm
Mz
rule, and are rz y Fx
r
My
Mx  ry F z  r z F y My  rz Fx  rx Fz M z  rx F y  ry F x rx
O ry

which agree with the respective terms in the determinant expansion for
x
the cross product r  F.
Mx

Moment about an Arbitrary Axis Figure 2/22

We can now obtain an expression for the moment M
of F about any
axis
through O, as shown in Fig. 2/23. If n is a unit vector in the λ

-direction, then we can use the dot-product expression for the compo-
nent of a vector as described in Art. 2/7 to obtain MO 䡠 n, the component MO
n
of MO in the direction of
. This scalar is the magnitude of the moment F
M
of F about
. Mλ
To obtain the vector expression for the moment M
of F about
,
multiply the magnitude by the directional unit vector n to obtain r

O
M
 (r  F 䡠 n)n (2/16)

where r  F replaces MO. The expression r  F 䡠 n is known as a triple

scalar product (see item 8 in Art. C/7, Appendix C). It need not be writ-
ten (r  F) 䡠 n because a cross product cannot be formed by a vector and Figure 2/23
a scalar. Thus, the association r  (F 䡠 n) would have no meaning.
The triple scalar product may be represented by the determinant

冏 冏
rx ry rz
兩M
兩  M
 Fx Fy Fz (2/17)
 

where , , are the direction cosines of the unit vector n.

Varignon’s Theorem in Three Dimensions F3

In Art. 2/4 we introduced Varignon’s theorem in two dimensions. F2
The theorem is easily extended to three dimensions. Figure 2/24 shows a
system of concurrent forces F1, F2, F3, . . . . The sum of the moments
about O of these forces is A
O r F1

r  F1  r  F2  r  F3  䡠 䡠 䡠  r  (F1  F2  F3  䡠 䡠 䡠 )
 r  ΣF Figure 2/24