Moment

Moment
• When a force is applied to a body it will produce a tendency for the

body to rotate about a point that is not on the line of action of the
force.
• This tendency to rotate is sometimes called a torque , but most
often it is called the moment of a force or simply the moment .
• For example, consider a wrench used to unscrew the bolt.
• If a force is applied to the handle of the wrench it will tend to turn
the bolt about point O (or the z axis).
(a) (b) (c)

Moment
• In (a), the magnitude of the moment is directly proportional to the
magnitude of F and the perpendicular distance or moment arm of
d.
• Therefor, the larger the force or the longer the moment arm, the
greater the moment or turning effect.
(a) (b) (c)

Moment
• In (b), note that if the force F is applied at an angle 𝜃 ≠ 90°, then it
will be more difficult to turn the bolt since the moment arm 𝑑′ =
𝑑 sin 𝜃, thus it will be smaller than d.
• In (c), force F is applied along the wrench, its moment arm will be
zero since the line of action of force F will intersect point O (the z
axis). As a result, the moment of F about O is also zero and no
turning can occur.
(a) (b) (c)

Moment of Force
Moment of Force: Scalar Definition
• A force produces a turning effect or
moment 𝐌𝑂 about a point O that does not
lie on its line of action.
• In scalar definition, the moment magnitude
is the product of the force 𝐅 and the
moment arm or perpendicular distance 𝑑
from point O to the line of action of the
force:
𝑀𝑂 = 𝐹𝑑
• The direction of the moment is defined

• using the right-hand rule.
• Since in this case, the moment will tend to
cause a counter-clockwise rotation, and the
moment vector is actually directed out of
the page.
EXAMPLE 4.2
Determine the resultant moment of the four forces acting on the rod
shown in Fig. 4–5 about point O .
Cross Product
The cross product of two vectors A and B yields the vector C which is 𝐂 =
𝐀×𝐁.
• The magnitude of C is defined as the
product of the magnitudes of A and B and
the sine of the angle 𝜃 between their tails
(0° ≤ 𝜃 ≤ 180°). This is called dot product:
𝐶 = 𝐴𝐵 sin 𝜃
• The direction of vector C is perpendicular to
the plane containing vectors A and B, and is
specified by the right-hand rule. Given that
𝐮𝐶 is defined as the direction of C, then:
𝐂=𝐀×𝐁
𝐂 = 𝐴𝐵 sin 𝜃 𝐮𝐶
Cross Product
• The commutative law is not valid.
Rather by the right-hand rule :
𝐀 × 𝐁 = −𝐁 × 𝐀
• If the cross product is multiplied by a

scalar 𝑎 , it obeys the associative law:
𝑎 𝐀 × 𝐁 = a𝐀 × 𝐁
= 𝐀 × a𝐁
= 𝐀×𝐁 𝑎
• The vector cross product also obeys
the distributive law of addition:
𝐀× 𝐁+𝐃 = 𝐀×𝐁 + 𝐀×𝐃
Moment of Force: Vector Definition
• Since three-dimensional geometry is generally more difficult to
visualize, the vector cross product should be used to determine the
moment, where r represents a position vector directed from O to
any point on the line of action of F.
𝐌𝑂 = 𝐫 × 𝐅
• The magnitude of the cross product is defined as 𝑀𝑂 = 𝑟𝐹 sin 𝜃,
where the angle 𝜃 is measured between the tails of r and F.
• Since the moment arm 𝑑 = 𝑟 sin 𝜃 , then it will agree with scalar
definition.
𝑀𝑂 = 𝑟𝐹 sin 𝜃 = 𝐹 𝑟 sin 𝜃
𝑀𝑂 = 𝐹𝑑
• The cross product operation is often used in three dimensions since the
perpendicular distance or moment arm from point O to the line of action
of the force is not needed.
• Since F can be applied at any point along its line of action and still create
this same moment about point O , then F can be considered a sliding
vector . This property is called the principle of transmissibility of a force.
𝐌𝑂 = 𝐫𝐴 × 𝐅 = 𝐫𝐵 × 𝐅 = 𝐫𝐶 × 𝐅
• If the position vector r and force F are expressed as Cartesian
vectors, then the cross product results from the expansion of a
determinant.
𝐢 𝐣 𝐤
𝐌𝑂 = 𝐫 × 𝐅 = 𝑟𝑥 𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑧
𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑦 𝐹𝑧
EXAMPLE 4.3
Determine the moment produced by the force F in Fig. 4–14 a about

point O . Express the result as a Cartesian vector.
Varignon’s Theorem
• A concept often used in mechanics is the Varignon’s theorem (principle
of moments), which was originally developed by the French
mathematician Varignon (1654–1722).
• It states that the moment of a force about a point is equal to the sum of
the moments of the components of the force about the point.
• This theorem can be proven easily using the vector cross product since
the cross product obeys the distributive law .
Varignon’s Theorem
• For two-dimensional problems, rather than finding d, it is normally easier
to resolve the force into its x and y components, determine the moment
of each component about the point, and then sum the results.
𝐌𝑂 = 𝐹𝑑
𝐌𝑂 = 𝐹𝑥 𝑦 − 𝐹𝑦 𝑥
EXAMPLE 4.5
Determine the moment of the force in Fig. 4–18 a about point O .

EXAMPLE 4.6
Force F acts at the end of the angle bracket in Fig. 4–19 a . Determine
the moment of the force about point O .
Moment about an Axis
Moment about a Specified Axis
• Sometimes, the moment produced by a force about a specified axis must be
determined.
• For example below, suppose the lug nut at O on the car tire needs to be
loosened. The force applied to the wrench will create a tendency for the wrench
and the nut to rotate about the moment axis passing through O ; however, the
nut can only rotate about the y axis. Therefore, to determine the turning effect,
only the y component of the moment is needed, and the total moment
produced is not important.
• To determine this component, we can use either a scalar or vector analysis.
Moment about a Specified Axis: Scalar
The moment arm perpendicular distance from the axis to the line of action
of the force is 𝑑𝑦 = 𝑑 cos 𝜃. Thus, the moment of F about the y axis is 𝑴𝒚 =
𝑭𝒅𝒚 = 𝑭 𝒅 𝒄𝒐𝒔 𝜽 . According to the right-hand rule, My is directed along
the positive y axis as shown in the figure. In general, for any axis a , the
moment is:
𝑀𝑎 = 𝐹𝑑𝑎
Moment about a Specified Axis: Vector
• The moment of the force about any point O on the y axis is determine by
𝐌𝑂 = 𝐫 × 𝐅 .
• In addition, the component 𝐌𝑦 along the y axis is the projection of 𝐌𝑂
onto the y axis, and it can be found using the dot product, so that 𝐌𝑦 =
𝐣 ∙ 𝐌𝑂 = 𝐣 ∙ 𝐫 × 𝐅 where 𝐣 is is the unit vector for the y axis. This
combination is referred to as the scalar triple product .
Moment about a Specified Axis: Vector
• We can generalize this approach by
letting 𝐮𝑎 be the unit vector that
specifies the direction of the a axis.
• If the vectors are written in Cartesian
form, we have:
𝐌𝑎 = 𝐮𝑎 ∙ 𝐫 × 𝐅
𝑢𝑎 𝑥 𝑢𝑎 𝑦 𝑢𝑎 𝑧
𝐌𝑎 = 𝑟𝑥 𝑟𝑦 𝑟𝑧
𝐹𝑥 𝐹𝑦 𝐹𝑧
EXAMPLE 4.8
Determine the moment MAB produced by the force F in Fig. 4–23 a ,

which tends to rotate the rod about the AB axis.
EXAMPLE 4.9
Determine the magnitude of the moment of force F about segment OA

of the pipe assembly in Fig. 4–24 a .
Couple Moment
Couple Moment
• A couple is defined as two parallel forces that have the same
magnitude, but opposite directions, and are separated by a
perpendicular distance d.
• Since the resultant force is zero, the only effect of a couple is to
produce an actual rotation, or if no movement is possible, there is a
tendency of rotation in a specified direction.
• The unique effect of a couple is to produce a pure twist or rotation
regardless of where the forces are located.
Couple Moment
• The direction of the couple moment M is established using the
right-hand rule and the magnitude is:
𝑀 = 𝐹𝑑
Couple Moment
• If the vector cross product is used to determine the couple moment
M, then r extends from any point on the line of action of one of the
forces to any point on the line of action of the other force F that is
used in the cross product.
𝐌=𝐫×𝐅
EXAMPLE 4.11
Determine the magnitude and direction of the couple moment acting

on the gear in Fig. 4–31 a .
EXAMPLE 4.13
Replace the two couples acting on the pipe column in Fig. 4–33 a by a
resultant couple moment.
Simplification of a Force &
Couple System
Force & Couple
• Any system of forces and couples can be
reduced to a single resultant force and
resultant couple moment acting at a point.
• The resultant force is the sum of all the forces
in the system, and the resultant couple
moment is equal to the sum of all the
moments of the forces about the point and
couple moments.
𝐅𝑹 = ෍ 𝐅
𝐌𝑹 𝑶 = ෍ 𝐌𝑶 + ෍ 𝐌
EXAMPLE 4.14
Replace the force and couple system shown in Fig. 4–37 a by an

equivalent resultant force and couple moment acting at point O .
EXAMPLE 4.15
Replace the force and couple system acting on the member in Fig. 4–
38 a by an equivalent resultant force and couple moment acting at
point O .

Moment

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Moment

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Moment

• When a force is applied to a body it will produce a tendency for the

(a) (b) (c)

(a) (b) (c)

(a) (b) (c)

• The direction of the moment is defined

• If the cross product is multiplied by a

Determine the moment produced by the force F in Fig. 4–14 a about

Determine the moment of the force in Fig. 4–18 a about point O .

Determine the moment MAB produced by the force F in Fig. 4–23 a ,

Determine the magnitude of the moment of force F about segment OA

Determine the magnitude and direction of the couple moment acting

Replace the force and couple system shown in Fig. 4–37 a by an

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