Turning Moments IA

Discussion
The principles of moment states that the sum of the anticlockwise
moment must be equal to the sum of the clockwise moment, about a
same point or pivot, for a system to be in equilibrium. The moment of a
force is defined as the product of a force and the perpendicular
distance from the line of that force. The line of action of a force is the
line along which the force vector acts. Moment represents the turning
effect that a force applies to a system. If the line of action of a force
passes through the pivot of a system the moment of a force will be
zero. Since the perpendicular distance is now zero. The unit of moment
is the newton-metre (Nm). Where N is the force applied and m is the
distance from the perpendicular distance between the line of action of
the force and the pivot. A system is said to be in equilibrium when the
forces on either side of the pivot are equal and opposite to each other.
The factors involved in this experiment are the magnitude of the force
being applied and the distance of this forces line of action from the
pivot about which turning takes place. The magnitude of the moment
of a force acting about a point or axis and is directly proportional to the
distance of the force from the pivot or fulcrum. The formula for
calculating moment is force * distance or M= F*d.
The centre of moments may be the actual point about which the forces
cause a rotation or it may be the reference point or axis about which
the force/forces cause a rotation. A clockwise rotation about the pivot
is considered to cause the beam to rotate in a clockwise manner and it
is also considered a positive moment. An anticlockwise moment causes
the beam to rotate in an anticlockwise manner and it is considered a
negative moment. For the 4th trial of this experiment a mass of 0.1 kg
was placed on the right hand side of the pivot at a distance of 0.1 m
away from the pivot. The object was weighed to obtain its mass. Its
force was obtained using the formula related to newtons second law.
The force was found to be 1 N. By using the moment formula it was
found that this object had an clockwise moment of 0.1 Nm. On the LHS
of the pivot an object of mass of 5kg was placed on LHS and its
distance from the pivot was adjusted until the metre rule was
balanced. When the distance from the pivot was checked it showed
that it was 0.2 m. When the moment was calculated a result of 0.1 Nm
was found. This shows that the ACM was = to the CM in this case.

Throughout the other trials this was also true thus the principle of
moments was proven through this experiment.