ata causes ize of he sthe ri Moments Figure 4.1 Now that’s what | call a spanner! Bet you could get some torque with thatt Mtn a door handle, open a door turn on a tap, take a serew-cap off a fa tighten a nut with a spanner, or spin a cricket ball. Do any of these things and you are using another property of forces ~ their ability to cause Folation. In this chapter, we introduce the turning effect of a force and —— a Took at everyday examples. a 411 Turning forces force Try opening a door by pushing close to the hinge. A very much large aa force is required to open the door than would b if you were eer pushing near the handle = The turning effect ofa force about a point is called its moment about that Point. The size of the moment depends on the size of the force and its ‘a Figure 42 : distance from the pivot. Look at the diagram in Figure 4.2 and see how the Have you ever thought why 2 done, uring effect is made bigger by applying the force as far from the hinge as tandle ANY lage aL UE Sa of tne door furthest from the hinge? Possible the door 7D Fig. 4.3, {@) Two forces in opposite directions ‘cause a moment about the centre of the tap turing it on. (0) The wheel acts asthe pivot. The load is nearer to the whee! than the lifting force, so the man does not need to apply such a large force. (6) The crowbar multiplies the force. The effort is along way from the pivot. The pull on the nail is much closer, 50 for the moments to be balanced, the force on the nal is much lager than the effort force. D Figure 4. Canals used to be a major method of transporting goods but now they are used for leisure purposes. The lock gate is being opened by pushing on the extended arm. > Figure 4.5 In) the moment about the pivot is less than in (a. The force isthe same size, but the perpendicular distance is smal. Using moments We use the idea of n looked at how we w more examples. The mom multiplied Mome Units Force is measured in moments all the time in everyday life. We h: ise moments when we open a door. Here are some already Pivot” force otce about a point is equal to the size of the force pendicular distance from the force to the point. nt = force X perpendicular distance M=Fxd n newtons and distance in metres. Therefore the unit of the moment is newton metres (Nm). ' pivot by pivot — a . force i > Note that it is the pe must be measured rendicular distance from the force to the pivot thatES 4 (OL 4 Figure 4.6 Calculate the moment of the force about the centre of the nut produced by the force on the spanner in Figure 4.6. Moment = force x perpendicular distance ‘ee ae Change the distance to metres. = 360N x 0.25m 25¢m = 0.25m =90Nm This is the moment the spanner provides and it will be equal to the ‘moment on the nut. hola 4.1 Calculate the moment produced about the pivot by the forees in the diagrams in Figure 47. 2) tem —> ) 18m —> are ? Chena + 30N it Qo) sem — ——25m— ——> P soem il wot an ae 4.2 A force of 320N is applied at one end of a beam of length 3.0m. The ‘other end of the beam remains on the ground and acts as a pivot. CCaleulate the moment produced about this end.4.2. Balancing and equilibrium Balancing — the seesaw problem > Figure 4.8 This shows how two children of diferent sizes can balance a seesaw. : — short distancexe—— longer cstance small force large force @ rata The bigger child needs tobe nearer the pivot than the small child. If she O rrrcta tons moves to exactly the right place this will equal the moment produced by the smaller child and the seesaw will balance. The force produced by the larger child tries to turn the seesaw in an. hild tends to anticlockwise direction, whilst the force due to the smaller turn it in a clockwise direction, For the seesaw to balance, the moments produced by the two children must be equal, and turning the seesaw in ‘opposite directions. Conditions for equilibrium We now have two conditions for a body to be in equilibrium, 1 The resultant force on a body must be zero, This is explained in Chapter 3. If there is a force on the body it will accel 2 The resultant moment on a body must be zero. If there isa resultant moment the body will start to rotate. The principle of moments states that for a body to be in equilibrium the net moment about any point is zero. Kel Hint To calculate exactly where the two Two children of masses 32 kg and 40 kg sit on a seesaw so that it children must sit we need to know balances. The smaller child sits 1.5 m from the pivot. Calculate where the the masses of the two children ther child must sit. and how far one of them is sitting (Take g as 10 Nika) from the pivot. Weight of the small child = 32 x 10N = 320N Weight of the large child = 40 x 10N. = 400NClockwise moment = eight of small child > distance from the pivot = 320% 1.5Nm 180 Nm Anticlockwise moment = eight of large child X distance from the pivot = 400Nx y For balance: anticlockwise moment ‘The larger child must sit 1.2m from the pivot and on the opposite side to the smaller child. The beam balance The balancing principle is used in the beam balance, where an unknown ‘mass is compared with that of known masses. In the balance shown, the tbvo containers holding the masses are equal distances from the pivot ~ 0 the unknown mass is equal to the sum of the known masses. Centre of mass Up to now we have ignored the mass (and weight) of the seesaw or metre rule. In reality, the mass of any body is distributed over the whole body but it can be considered to be concentrated at a single point. We call this point the centre of mass, 320N 400N A Figure 4.9 Iisa good idea to draw a simple iagram to help you visualise the situation, 4 Figure 4.10 centre of mass of beam and pans pivot — pointer A Figure 4.11 ‘The beam balance,For a uniform beam, the centre of mass is at the centre of the beam, the beam balance illustrates this; itis designed so that its centre of mass is directly in line with the pivot. As a result, when balanced, it produces no turning effect about the pivot and does not affect the balancing. This can Centre of mass and stability Experiment to find the centre of mass of a plane lamina The centre of mass ofa flat sheet, or lamina, can be found by drilling wo small holes in the lamina and then suspending it from one hole witha pin. sre 4.12, plumb line is suspended from the pin and This is shown in E @ Kivnyaz its position is marked with a cross (Figure 4.12(a)), The lamina is then hung from a second hole and the position of the plumb line is marked again (Figure 4.12(b)). In each case the centre of ‘mass must be vertically below the point of suspension, so the centre of ‘mass must be where the two lines cross D> Figure 4.12 Finding the centre of mass for a taming, _— plumb line plumb ine As a check, the lamina can now be suspended from a third hole, and the line made by the plumb line should cross the other two lines at their D> Figure 4.13) This racing cars designed so that the centre of mass is as close to the ‘ground as possible. This means itis ‘moe stable and sls ikely to turn ‘over when it corners at high speed.Ne | Stability ie 4.14 shows three balls in different states of equilibrium. co centee of mass gee. nd ans by ball sin stable equilibrium. If there fsa small movement of the ball, the line of action ofits weight will remain inside the base on which it is balanced This will cause it to fall back to its starting position (6) This ugby balls in unstable equilibrium. A small movement ofthe ball will take the line of action of its weight outside the base on which itis balance! This wil cause it to rotate and topple over. (6 This football isin neutral equilibrium. IF there is @ small movement ofthe ball, the line of action ofits weight remains above its point of contact with the ground, soit wil remain in its new position, If we look at Figure 4.11 again, beam balance is well below the pivot. This makes it very stable we will see that the centre of mass of the | 44 Figure 4.15 shows a decanter designed for use at sea 4) State the two design features 4 Figure 4.15 that make it stable so that it is unlikely to fall over in rough seas. ) Explain how these features ‘make it stable. thick glass base 4.5 Figure 4.16 shows a snooker cue. A player attempts to balance the cue on his finger. Figure 4.16 Copy the diagram and 2) show where he must place his finger to, balance the cue, and) mark a possible point where the centre of mass ofthe cue i situated.4.6 A door handle is 0.75m from the hinge. The door is on a spring and ‘a moment of 48Nm is requited to open the door. Calculate the force needed to open the door. 47 A student makes a simple balance by balancing a uniform metre rule atits centre She places a cup of flour at the 75 em mark. She balances the metre rule by placing a 20'N weight at the 10cm mark. Calculate the weight of the cup of flour Now that you have completed this chapter, you should be able to: describe the moment of a force about a point as its turning effect about that point recognise that the moment of a force about a point depends on the size of the force and its perpendicular distance from the point recognise situations in everyday life where the moment of a force is used describe, qualitatively, the balancing of a pivoted beam understand that for a body to be in equilibrium there is no resultant force and no resultant moment on it understand the meaning of centre of mass, and deseribe an experiment to find the centre of mass of a plane lamina describe the effect of position of centre of mass on an object's stability know and use the formula: moment force X perpendicular distance describe an experiment to verify that there isno net moment on a body when itis in equilibrium Use the principle of moments in simple balancing problems.