I.

Concept of Mechanical Equilibrium

When a body is in equilibrium, it is either at rest or in uniform motion. According to

Newton’s first law, only the application of a resultant force can change this condition. If
all forces acting on a body intersect at a single point and their vector sum is zero, the
system must be in equilibrium.

It is possible that a body is in translational equilibrium (i.e. it is not moving left/right or

up/down) but not in rotational equilibrium (i.e. it may still rotate). Therefore the
conditions for equilibrium of a body are:

1. The centre of mass of the body has zero acceleration and the vector sum of all
external forces acting on the body is zero.

2. The net torque on the body must be zero (i.e. the body must not have the tendency to
rotate)

Centre of Gravity

The centre of gravity of a body is that point where the entire weight of a body appears to
be acting. When a body acted upon by gravity is suspended from a single point, the
centre of gravity is always at or directly above/below the point of suspension.

Moment of a force

The moment of a force about a point is the product of the force and the perpendicular
distance of the line of action of the force from the point of rotation/axis of rotation. Two
equal and opposite forces whose lines of action do not coincide are said to form a
couple. The two forces always have a turning effect (or moment) which is calculated as
the product of one of the forces and the perpendicular distance of separation between
them.

𝑭𝑁

𝒙𝑚

𝑭𝑁

𝑥𝑚
1
𝑭𝑁
Examples

1. A force of 250 N is exerted on a cable wrapped around a drum with a diameter of 20

cm. What is the torque produced about the centre of the drum?

0.2m

250 N

Distance of the 250 N force from the centre of the drum = 0.1 m.

∴ torque about the centre of the drum = 250 x 0.1 = 25 Nm

2. What is the torque exerted on a circular disc of radius 100 cm, by a couple of 50 N
acting on it and causing it to rotate.

50 x 2 = 100 Nm

Principle of Moments

The principle of moments states that the sum of clockwise and anticlockwise moments
about a point on a body in equilibrium is zero. For a body to be in absolute equilibrium
(both translational and rotational), the algebraic sum of the upward and downward
forces, also, must equal zero.

Examples

3. A 300 N girl and a 400 N boy stand on a 16 m uniform platform supported by posts A
and B as illustrated below. The platform itself weighs 200 N. What are the forces
exerted by the posts/supports on the platform?

7m

3m 13 m

A 2 B
 Solution

The lines of action of the forces acting on the beam about pivot A are shown:

7m

3m 13 m

A B

reaction at B
300 N weight of girl A 200 N weight of beam

400 N weight of boy

Sum of clockwise moments about A = (200 x 5) + (400 x 7)

= 1000 + 2800

= 3800 Nm

Sum of anti-clockwise moments about A = (300 x 3) + (B x 13)

= 900 + 13B

Sum of clockwise moments = sum of anti-clockwise moments

⇒ 900 + 13B = 3800

∴ B = 223 N

Sum of upward forces = sum of downward forces

⇒ A + B = 300 + 200 + 400

⇒ A + 223 = 900

∴ A = 677 N

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4. If the 10 kg mass shown in the figure below is in equilibrium, calculate the tension in
each string. (Ans.: T1 = 113 N, T2 = 56.6 N, T3 = 98 N)

ROTATIONAL K.E AND MOMENT OF INERTIA

We saw earlier that a particle moving in a circle of radius R has a linear speed 𝑣 = 𝜔𝑅
1
and 𝐾. 𝐸 = 2 𝑚𝑣 2 , where 𝑚 is the mass of the particle. Any rigid body can be considered
to consist of many particles of varying masses, located at different distances from the
axis of rotation. The total K.E of such of such a body will then be the sum of the K.Es of
each particle making up the body i.e.

1
𝐾. 𝐸 = 𝑚𝜔2 𝑅 2
2
1
𝐾. 𝐸 = 𝜔2 𝑚 𝑅2
2
The quantity 𝑚 𝑅 2 is defined as the moment of inertia I.

𝐼= 𝑚 𝑟2

Therefore rotational K.E

1 2
𝐾. 𝐸 = 𝐼𝜔
2
Note the similarity between the terms 𝑚 and 𝐼 for linear and rotational motion
respectively. For bodies that are not composed of distinct masses, but are actually

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continuous distributions of matter, the calculation of moments of inertia usually involves
calculus and not simple arithmetic summation procedure.

The formulae for computing the moments of inertia for certain shapes of solid objects
are given below.

SHAPE Formula for Moment of Inertia

Solid cylinder 1
𝐼 = 𝑚𝑅 2
2
where 𝑅 is the radius of the cross-section
of the wire

Hollow cylinder 1
𝐼= 𝑚(𝑅12 + 𝑅22 )
2
where 𝑅1 and 𝑅2 are the inner and outer
radii of the hollow cylinder.

Solid disk 1
𝐼= 𝑚𝑅 2
2

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Thin rod with axis through its centre 1
𝐼= 𝑚𝑙 2
12
where 𝑙 is the length of the rod

Solid sphere with axis through its centre 2

𝐼= 𝑚𝑅 2
5

Hollow sphere with thin wall 2

𝐼= 𝑚𝑅 2
3

Torque

The resultant torque of a rigid body is given by

𝜏=𝛼 𝑚 𝑅2

= 𝐼𝛼

𝑖. 𝑒. 𝑇𝑜𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒 = 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 × 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

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Angular Momentum

Consider a particle of mass 𝑚 moving in a circle of radius 𝑟. If its linear velocity is 𝑣, it

will have a linear momentum 𝑝 = 𝑚𝑣. The angular momentum 𝐿 of the particle is the
product of its linear momentum 𝑚𝑣 and the perpendicular distance 𝑟 from the axis of
rotation to the particle.

𝐿 = 𝑚𝑣𝑟

For a rigid body consisting of several particles,

𝐿= 𝑚𝑟 2 𝜔

Therefore the total angular momentum of the rigid body is equal to the product of the
body’s angular velocity and its moment of inertia.

𝐿 = 𝐼𝜔

Examples

5. Six coins are glued to a rod of negligible mass and spaced 10 cm apart on the rod.
The length of the rod is 0.5 m and the mass of each coin is 20 g. If the rod rotates
about an axis located at 25 cm as shown,

(a) What is the moment of inertia of the system?

(b) If the system rotates at 5 revs/s, what is its rotational K.E?

This problem can be considered as a system of particles. For a system of particles,

𝐼= 𝑚 𝑟2

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 𝐼 = 2 0.02 × 0.252 + 2 0.02 × 0.152 + 2 0.02 × 0.052

𝐼 = 0.04 0.252 + 0.152 + 0.052 = 0.04 0.0625 + 0.0225 + 0.0025 = 3.5 × 10−3 𝑘𝑔 𝑚2

Rotational K.E,

1 2
𝐾. 𝐸 = 𝐼𝜔
2
1
= × 3.5 × 10−3 × (10𝜋)2 ≅ 1.73 𝐽
2

6. A thin uniform rod is 1 m long and has a mass of 6 kg. If the rod is pivoted at its
centre and set into rotation with an angular velocity of 16 rad/s, compute its angular
momentum.

The angular momentum 𝐿 of the uniform rod is

𝐿 = 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 (𝐼) × 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝜔)

moment of inertia 𝐼 of a thin uniform rod with an axis through its center (and
1
perpendicular to its length) = 12 𝑀𝑙 2 , where 𝑀 is mass of the rod and 𝑙 is its length.

1
∴ 𝐼 = 12 × 6 × 12 = 0.5 kg m2

and 𝐿 = 0.5 x 16 = 8 kg m2 s-1

7. A 500 g steel rod 30 cm in length is pivoted about its center and rotated at 300
rev/min. What is the angular momentum? Answer: 0.118 kg m/s2.

Conservation of Angular Momentum

A statement of the conservation of angular momentum is: ‘If the sum of external torques
acting on a body or system of bodies is zero, the angular momentum is
conserved/remains unchanged.’

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Rotational Work and Power

Consider a force F acting at the edge of a pulley of radius r, as shown below. The effect
of such a force is to rotate the pulley through an angle θ, while the point at which the
force is applied moves a distance s along an arc. The distance 𝑠 is related to θ and 𝑟
by

𝑠 = 𝑟𝜃

Hence the work done by the force 𝐹 is

𝑊 = 𝐹𝑠 = 𝐹𝑟𝜃

𝐹𝑟 is the torque due to the force, therefore

𝑊 = 𝜏𝜃

and

𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝜏𝜃
𝑃𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 = = = 𝜏𝜔
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡
where 𝜔 is the average angular velocity

Examples

8. A circular grinding disk of radius 0.6 m and mass 90 kg is rotating at 460 rev/min.
What force, applied tangentially to the edge, will cause the disk to stop in 20 s?

𝑇𝑜𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒 = 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎 × 𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛

= 𝐼𝛼
1 1
𝐼 = 𝑀𝑅2 = × 90 × 0.62 = 16.2 𝑘𝑔 𝑚2
2 2

𝜔𝑓 − 𝜔𝑖 (2𝜋 × 460) 60
𝛼= = = −2.41 𝑟𝑎𝑑 𝑠 −2
𝑡 20
∴ 𝜏 = 16.2 × −2.41 = −39 𝑁𝑚
𝜏
and 𝐹 = 𝑟 = −65 𝑁

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9. A wheel of radius 60 cm has a moment of inertia of 5 kg. m 2. A constant force of 60 N
is applied at a tangent to the rim. Assuming it starts from rest, how much work is done in
4 s and how much power is developed?

𝑇𝑜𝑟𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝜏 = 𝐹𝑟 ≡ 𝐼𝛼

𝐹𝑟 60 × 0.6
∴𝛼= = = 7.2 𝑟𝑎𝑑 𝑠 −2
𝐼 5

𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 = 𝜏𝜃 ≡ 𝐼𝛼𝜃

1 1
𝜃 = 𝜔𝑖 𝑡 + 𝛼𝑡 2 = × 7.2 × 42 = 57.6 𝑟𝑎𝑑
2 2

∴ 𝑊𝑜𝑟𝑘 𝑑𝑜𝑛𝑒 = 𝐼𝛼𝜃 = 5 × 7.2 × 57.6 = 2073.6 𝐽

2073.6
𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 4 𝑠 = = 518.4 𝑊
4

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