What is torque?

1 Answer
Aritra G.
Jun 5, 2016

Torque is the rotational analogue of force. It is the equivalent of force which makes a body rotate about some axis.

Explanation:

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As you may see, it's the equivalent of force which makes the nut rotate about it's axis.

Mathematically, Torque, tau = r*F*Sin thetaτ=r⋅F⋅sinθ, where rr is the length of the rotating arm, FF is the force and thetaθ is the angle between the two.

Torque is a vector, i.e. it has a direction associated with it. It is the cross product of vectors vec r→r and vec F→F.

Image : hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu

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