How to Calculate Torque

Torque is best defined as the tendency of a body to rotate. Calculating torque can
be pretty straight forward using two methods described below.

Method I: Using Force and Moment Arm

Step 1: Identify the forces exerted on the body and their
corresponding moment arms. If the force is not perpendicular to the
moment arm being considered or, in other words, it is mounted in an angle,
we may need to find its components using trigonometric functions, sine or
cosine. The force component to consider will depend on whether what will
be the equivalent of a perpendicular force. Imagine a horizontal bar and
you need to apply a force of 10N in an angle of 30 above the horizontal
for it to rotate about its centre. Which component would choose? Since you
need to a force that is perpendicular to the moment arm, you need a
vertical force to rotate the bar. Therefore, you need to consider the ycomponent or use F=10sin30 N.
Step 2: Use the equation for torque, = Fr; simply replace the
variables with your given or obtained data.
Lets use a simple example: Imagine a 30 kg child sit on one side of
a seesaw. The length of one side of the seesaw is 1.5 m.
Since the rotation axis of the seesaw is at the centre, we do not
need to multiply the length by twice.
We need to get the force exerted by the child. Since the given
data is mass, from Newtons Second Law of Motion, we need to
multiply it by the acceleration due to gravity, g, which is equal
to 9.81 m/s2. Therefore:

Now, we have all the needed data to use the torque equation:

Step 3: Make use of the sign conventions for torque. When the force
tends to rotate the body clockwise, torque is negative. When the force
tends to rotate the body counter clockwise, torque is positive.

Step 4: For multiple applied forces, just sum up all of the torques in
the body. Since each force tends to produce same or different rotations,
the use of sign convention is important.
Lets use another example: Two forces, F 1= 10.0 N clockwise and
F2=9.0 N counter clockwise, are applied to the edge of a stirring
wheel with a diameter of 0.050m.
Since the given body is a circle, its fixed axis is the centre. We
need to divide the diameter and get the radius. The
measurement of the radius will serve as our moment arm.
Therefore our radius is equal to .025m.
For clarity, we can solve the individual torques brought about by
the
forces.
For force 1, the action is clockwise so the torque produced is
negative:

For force 2, the action is counter clockwise so the torque

produced
is
positive:

Now we can just sum up the torques to get the net torque:

Method II: Using moment of Inertia and Angular Acceleration

For the following steps we can use this example:
Two small weights of mass 5.0 kg and 7.0 kg are mounted of a 4.0 m apart on
a light rod (whose mass can be neglected). The axis of rotation is at the centre
of the rod. The rod is rotated from rest to an angular velocity of 30.0 rad/s in
3.00s. Calculate the torque produced.
Step 1: Solve for the moment of inertia of the body.
Moment of inertia is the resistance of a body to rotational motion.
Moment of inertia is dependent to both mass and how mass is
distributed. To clearly understand this concept, we can imagine two
cylinders of different same diameters but different masses. Imagine we
need to rotate the two cylinders at its centre. It is obvious that the
cylinder with greater mass will be harder to rotate than the other

cylinder since it is heavier. Now, imagine two cylinders with different

diameters but same masses. To still appear cylindrical but at the same
time accommodating different diameters but same masses, the shapes
or the mass distribution of both cylinders will differ to each other. The
cylinder with a larger diameter will appear like a circular flat plate while
the smaller diameter cylinder will appear like a solid tissue tube. Now,
we need to rotate both cylinders at the centre. Which do you think will
be harder to rotate? The cylinder with a larger diameter will be harder to
rotate because you need a larger force to account for the farther
moment arm.
Now, there are several equations available to solve the moment of
inertia. First is the simple equation:

or the summation of the

mass and the moment arms of each particle. This equation is used for
point or ideal particles. A point particle is an object that has mass but
does not take up space. In other words, the only relevant characteristic
of this object is its mass; we do not need to know its size, shape or
structure. The concept of a point particle is heavily used in physics to
simplify calculations and use ideal and theoretical scenarios.

Now, imagine objects like a hollow cylinder or a solid uniform sphere.

These objects have a clear and definite shape, size, and structure.
Therefore, we cannot regard them as a point particle. Thankfully, there
are available equations of some these common objects that rotate
though their centres:

Going back to our example:

Since the axis of rotation is at the centre, the moment arm of
both our weights is equal to half of the length of the rod, which is
2.0 m.
Since there was no specified shape, size, and structure for the
weights, we can assume that the weights are ideal particles.
The moment of inertia can be computed as:

Step 2: Solve for the angular acceleration, . The formula, = at/r or

, can be used.
The first formula, = at/r, can be used if the tangential acceleration and
the radius is given. The tangential acceleration is the acceleration that is
tangent to the path of motion. Imagine an object travelling at a curved
path, the tangential acceleration is just its linear acceleration at any
point in the path.
For the second formula, the easiest way to illustrate this is to relate it
with kinematics: displacement, linear velocity, and linear linear
acceleration. Displacement is the distance traveled by an object (SI
unit:meters, m); linear velocity is the rate of change of displacement
over time (SI unit: m/s); linear acceleration is the rate of change of linear
velocity over time (SI unit: m/s2). Now, we consider its counterparts in
rotational motion: angular displacement, , the angle of the rotation of a
certain point or line (SI unit: rad); the angular displacement, , time rate
change of angular displacement (SI unit: rad/s); and the angular
acceleration, , the change in angular velocity per unit time (SI unit:
rad/s2).
Going back to our example, we were given data for angular momentum
and time. Since it started from rest the initial angular velocit is 0. We can
use the equation,

, to solve:

Step 3: Use the equation, = I, to find torque.Simply replace the

variables with the answers obtained from the previous steps. You may
notice that the unit rad does not fit in our units, it is considered as a
dimensionless quantity, meaning we can disregard it and continue on with
our computation. But for the sake of dimensional analysis, we can express
angular acceleration in the units s-2.

Terminologies:
Force, F push or pull on an object
Moment arm, r the measurement between the rotation or fixed axis and the
line of action of the force exerted. The line of action is an imaginary line
extending from both ends of the force vector.
Torque, the tendency of a body to rotate
Mass, m amount of matter in a body
Moment of Inertia, I the resistance of a body to rotational motion
Total mass of the object, M distributed mass of the object
Radius, R radius of the object
Angular acceleration, the change in angular velocity per unit time
Tangential acceleration, at tangential component of acceleration; equal to
rate change of velocity
Angular velocity, time rate change of angle or angular displacement,
Angular displacement, the measurement of the rotation of a certain point
or line
Time, t period of occurrence of an event
International System of Units, SI modern mertric system.

Tips:
For method I, if the body is a circle and the rotation axis is the center, there is
no need to get the force components (provided that the force is not inclined)
since the force lies on the tangent of the circle that is immediately
perpendicular to the moment arm.
If youre having a hard time imagining how the rotation occurs, use your pen
and try to recreate the problem. Be sure to copy the location of the axis of
rotation and the direction of the force to be applied for a closer
approximation.

References:
Giancoli, Douglas C., Physics; Principles with Applications. 6th edition. Singapore:
Pearson Education Asia. 2007. Print
Hibbeler, R.C., Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics. 12th edition. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall. 2010. Ebook
Serway, R.A. and John W. Jewett, Jr., Physics for Scientists and Engineers with
Modern Physics. 8th edition. California: Brooks/Cole. 2010. Ebook