Skip to main content

Moment and Torque Vectors

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Fundamentals of Biomechanics
  • 135k Accesses

Abstract

A force applied to an object can translate, rotate, and/or deform the object. The effect of a force on the object to which it is applied depends on how the force is applied and how the object is supported. For example, when pulled, an open door will swing about the edge along which it is hinged to the door frame (Fig. 3.1). What causes the door to swing is the torque generated by the applied force about an axis that passes through the hinges of the door. If one stands on the free end of a diving board, the board will bend (Fig. 3.2). What bends the board is the moment of the body weight about the fixed end of the board.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Open Access This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License, which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Ă–zkaya, N., Leger, D., Goldsheyder, D., Nordin, M. (2017). Moment and Torque Vectors. In: Fundamentals of Biomechanics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-44738-4_3

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics