Back to 'Unit 6: Rotational Statics and Dynamics'

Topic outline

  • A system is not in equilibrium when a rotational force is acting on it to make it accelerate in its rotation. We call this rotational force torque. We define torque as the force to turn or twist an object, thus changing its rotational velocity. The unit for torque is the Newton-meter (Nm).

    We can write the definition of torque as \tau = rF\sin\theta , where \tau (the Greek letter tau) is torque, r is how far the force is applied from the axis of rotation, F is the force magnitude, and \theta is the angle between the force and radial vector from the axis of rotation and where the force is being applied.