> > > THE MoMENT OF A Force; RESULTANTS 3.1 Introduction 3.2. Moment of a Force About a Point Common Sense Definition Vector Representation Varignon’s Theorem 3.3. Moment of a Force About a Line Definition of M, Physical Interpretation of M, Using “Force Times Perpendicular Distance” Applications to Find M, 34 The Couple Definition and Moment of a Couple ‘The Most Important Property of a Couple 3.5 Laws af Equilibrium: Relationship Between Suns of Moments ‘The Equilibrium Equations Relationship Between Sums of Moments 5.6 Equipollence of Force Systems The Meaning of Equipollence The Two Conditions for Equipolience 3.7 The Force-and-Couple Resultant of a System of Forces The Definition of a Resultant 3.8 The Simplest Resultant of a Force System The Single-Force Resultant Special Force Systems that are Equpolient to a Single Force ‘The Simplest Resultant of a General Force-and-Couple System: A Collinear Force and Couple ("Screwdriver") 3.9 Distributed Force Systems Forces Distributed Along a Straight Line Dividing a Distributed Force System into Composite Parts Forces Distributed Over Surfaces Forces Distributed Throughout a Volume; Gravity Certain 3-0 ‘SuMMaRY Review Questions 748 (Charman 3 / Tax Monat ov AFonce an Introduction In the preceding chapter, we learned that the external forces acting on a body in equilibrium sum to zero. For the relatively small subset of equilibrium problems examined in Chapter 2, that equation, 3F = 0, ‘was all that was needed to complete the solution. Most of the time, however, we will need a complementary, in- dependent equation to complete the solution to statics problems. This, second equation is that the moments, about an arbitrary point P, of all the forces acting on the body also add to zero. For this reason we shall spend a chapter learning a number of things about moments of forces. In Section 3.2, we will begin by examining the moment of a force about a point, using three different definitions: a “common sense’ for- mula, a vector representation, and a theorem which allows us to sum the ‘moments of the components of a force and thereby obtain the moment of the entire force. Sometimes we need to find the moment of a force about a line through a certain point, instead of about the point itself. We learn to do this in Section 3.3, where we also develop the physical interpretation that the moment of a force F about line /is the turning effect, about ¢ of the part of F that is perpendicular to Section 3.4 contains a study of the concept of the couple, which is a pair of non-collinear, equal-magnitude, oppositely directed forces. A couple will be seen to have a turning effect but no resultant force, and it has the same moment about every point of space. The couple is an important concept in the study of moments of forces. In Section 3.5, we will present the other equilibrium equation (the “moment equation,” 2M = 0) as a companion to the “force equation,” 3F = 0, that we studied in Chapter 2, We then develop the relationship between the sum of the moments about two points (ZMp and Mg) ‘which leads in Section 3.6 to the concept of equipollent systems of forces, meaning they have equal power, orstrength; more precisely, equi- pollent force systems make identical contributions to the equations of equilibrium (and also to the equations of motion in a later study of Dynamics) ‘Any system of forces and couples can be replaced at any point P by an equipollent system consisting of a force and couple there, which is ‘alled a resultant ofthe original system. This is proved and illustrated in Section 3.7, and followed in Section 3.8 by a further reduction to the simplest resultant. This resultant is just a simple force in the cases of concurrent, coplanar, and parallel force systems. For more complicated three-dimensional force systems, the simplest resultant is a collinear force and couple, which for obvious reasons is called a “screwdriver.” In the last section, 3.9, we examine distributed force systems, We shall find that the resultant of a continuously distributed system of parallel forces is the area beneath the loading curve, located at the centroid of this area.Figure 3.1 = ys “ie of sion of nce F 3.2 3.2 / Moment of a Force About a Point 49 Moment of a Force About a Poi Common Sense Definition ‘The moment of a force is a measure of the tendency of the force to turn a body to which the forceis applied. The moment ofa force about a point (or with respect t0 a point) is defined to be a vector whose magnitude is the product of (a) the magnitude of the force and (b) the perpendicular distance between the point and the line of action of the force, The vector is perpendicular to the plane defined by the point and the line of action of the force. Question 3.1 Is therea case when the plane of P and Fis not defined? If so, what is the moment? ‘The direction is assigned by the “right-hand rule”: If the fingers of the right-hand curve in the direction of the perceived sense of the turning. effect, the thumb will point in the direction of the moment. Thus, if we have the situation shown in Figure 3.1 and if we let My stand for the moment of F about P, then Mp =|F| di 6a) In this case, the page is the plane of rand F, and ftisa unit vector pointing, out of the page toward the reader because we envision the turning effect to be counterclockwise in Figure 3.1. The magnitudes of the two sides of Equation (3.1) are of course equal: IMp|=|F\d 62) and this scalar equation allows us to find | Mp|, [F |, or dif we know the other two, Thus, for example, the perpendicular distance “d” from P to the line of action of the force is the magnitude of the moment | Mp] divided by the magnitude of the force |F Note that except for the case in Question 3.1, P,r, and F always form 1 plane, so the above equations (3.1, 3.2) are always valid, whether the vectors are easy to depict (as in Figure 3.1) or not. Vector Representation Another way of representing | Mp | follows from the fact that, if ris the directed line segment from P to any point on the line of action of F, then d= |r|sin 0 as shown in Figure 3.1. Thus M,=(IFl/r|sin 6]A ‘This result can be expressed in terms of the cross (or vector) product of the Answer 3.1 If he point is onthe line of action ofthe force, then, of couse, the plane fant defined. But then the distance is zero, s0 the moment is zero,