Moment of a Force about;

a Point and an Axis

Prepared By; IBITOGBE Enoch M.
As a part of Rigid Bodies {Week Four}
Moment of a force about an Point
• The force acting on a rigid body has the tendency to rotate and
translate the body. The force has a translational effect on the body
and causes it to move in the direction of the force.

• Here we introduce the tendency of a force to rotate a body, called

the moment of a force about a point.

• The tendency of a force to rotate a body about an axis is called the

moment of a force about an axis
Moment of a force about an Point
Let F be a force and O a point that is not on the line of action of F.

Considering the figure, the moment of the Force F, about point O is

defined as the product of the vector r and F.

The moment of the force F about point O, called the moment center, is
defined in Eq (1)

- - - - - - - Eq (1)

Cross Product

Note: From the properties of the cross product of two vectors, MO is perpendicular to both r and F, with its
sense determined by the right-hand rule
Moment of a force about an Point
While moment of a force about a point can always be
computed using a cross product. The scalar computation of
the magnitude of the moment can be obtained from the
geometric interpretation;

Mo = |Mo| = |r x F| = rFsinθ - - - - - - - Eq (2)

Where θ is the angle between r and F.
rsinθ = d - - - - - - - Eq (3)

where d is the perpendicular distance from the moment center to the line of action of the force F called
the moment arm of the force
 Determining the Direction of a Moment of a force
Usually, the direction of Mo is done through inspection. For example, the magnitude of the
moment of the 100 N force about the point O.

Moment; (100)(2) = 200 N · m, and its direction is

counterclockwise, as viewed from the positive z-axis. The
magnitude of the moment about point O for the 100-N force in
Fig. 2.5(c) is also 200 N · m, but in this case its direction is
clockwise, as viewed from the positive z-axis. For this force, MO =
− 200k N · m

In this case, the magnitude of the moment about point O for the
100-N force is also 200 N · m, but in this case its direction is
clockwise, as viewed from the positive z-axis.
For this force, MO = − 200k N · m
Principle of Moments
In determining the moment of a force about a point, the Varignon’s theorem;

In essence,
Vector and Scalar Methods
The vector method uses MO = r × F, where r is a vector from point O to any point on the line of
action of F

the second and third lines in the determinant are the rectangular components of r and F. The product
upon expansion yields……
Vector and Scalar Methods
In the scalar method, the magnitude of the moment of the force F about the point O is
found from MO = Fd, where d is the moment arm of the force. Where d is the moment arm
of the force.

In this method, the sense of the moment must be determined by inspection.

Sample
Determine (1) the moment of the force F about point C; and (2) the perpendicular distance
between C and the line of action of F.
y
The moment of a force about point C can be computed by either the
scalar method (MC = Fd), or the vector method (MC = r×F)

The scalar method would be inconvenient. There is no easy means of

determining d (the perpendicular distance between C and the line AB). x

Therefore, we use the vector method, which consists of the following

three steps: z

 Write
 Write FF in
in vector
vector form;
form;
 Choose
 Choose an
an r,r, and
and write
write itit in
in vector
vector form;
form; and
and
 Compute
 Compute MC
MC == rr ×× F.
F.
 Sample
 Write
 Write FF in
in vector
vector form;
form;
 F = 500= 500
y

which yields

F = − 371.4i + 278.6j + 185.7ik N

x

 Choose
 Choose an
an r,r, and
and write
write itit in
in vector
vector form;
form;
z
The vector r is a vector from point C to any point on the line of action of F

Note: Two convenient choices for r exist—the vector from point C to either point A or point B.
(As an exercise, you may wish to solve this problem by choosing r to be the vector from point C to point B.)
 Sample
 Compute
 Compute MC
MC == rr ×× F.
F.

r = rCA = − 2k m y
 Mc = r x F = rCA x F =

Expanding this determinant gives x

Mc = 557.2i + 742.8k N.m

z
The magnitude of MC is

The perpendicular distance d from point C to the line of action of F may be determined by
Moment axis

• Moment about an axis is a measure of the tendency of a force to

rotate a body about the axis, i.e moment of the force about a point
on the axis
• From the diagram, we see
• Axes A --- B
• The force F and its moment MO = r × F about point O,
• where O is any point on the axis AB.
Moment axis
where α is the angle between MO and λ,

Letting λ be a unit vector directed from A toward B, this definition gives for the moment
of F about the axis AB

A cross product gives a vector

While
A dot product gives a scalar

Let us review each of the terms appearing in this equation:

• MAB is the moment of the force F (actually the magnitude) about the axis AB. It
is scalar
• MO represents the moment of force F about the point O, where O is any point
on the axis AB.
• λ is the unit vector directed from A toward B.
Moment axis
AA cross
cross product
product gives
gives aa vector
vector
While
While
AA dot
dot product
product gives
gives aa scalar
scalar

When expressing the moment of F about the axis AB as a vector.

We can do this by multiplying MAB by the unit vector λ that specifies the
direction of the moment axis, yielding
Rectangular components of MO
moments of F about the three coordinate axes can be obtained from

The rectangular components of the moment of a force about the origin O are equal to
the moments of the force about the coordinate axes