Introduction

In order to make a curve with a bicycle or a motorcycle there must be sufficient friction between
the tires and the road, because the frictional force provides the centripetal force that makes the
bike follow the curved trajectory. But the frictional force also makes the rider and the bike rotate
sideways in the direction opposite to the center of the curve; to counteract that rotation the rider
tilts with the bike, making their weights produce a tendency to rotate in the opposite direction.
The tendency to rotate produced by a force is called moment and will be studied in this chapter.
The high speeds in motorcycle races imply larger tilt angles. To make the motrocycle tilt more,
the rider first turns the wheel in the opposite sense of the curve and moves his body away from
the motorcycle in the direction of the center of the curve.

5.1. Sliding vectors

The vectors introduced in chapter 2 are free vectors, which are considered equal if they have the
same magnitude, direction and sense, regardless of the point of the space where they are. In the
case of forces, it is not enough to know their magnitude, direction and sense. For example, when
a force is applied to a door to close it, besides the magnitude, direction and sense of the force, the
point at which that force is applied will also be important. The further away from the hinges the
force is applied, the easier it is to close the door. The force required to close the door would be
very high if it was applied at a point near the hinges.

Suppose we want to move a chair to another place, lifting it with just one hand. If the chair
weights 40 N, and its center of gravity is at the point C, as shown in figure 5.1, we would
probably put our hand at a point P on the back of the chair and apply an upward force of 40 N to
lift it. As the chair moves up, it will rotate until it reaches an equilibrium position as shown on
the right-hand side of the figure, where the weight and the force applied by the hand are in the
same vertical line. If we could apply the upward force in a point in the same vertical line as the
center of gravity C, the chair would go straight up without rotating.
 Figure 5.1: A chair of weight 40 N being lifted with an upward force.

We conclude that to predict the effect of a force it is necessary to know its magnitude, direction,
sense and also its line of action, which is the straight line passing through the point where the
force is applied, in the direction of the force. A force produces different effects if it is moved to a
different line of action, even if its magnitude, direction and sense are kept equal.
 Figure 5.2: Three equivalent points.

These kind of vectors, with a specific line of action, are called sliding vectors. The point where
they are applied is not important, as long as it is in their line of action. In the example of the
chair being lifted, the same upward force F could have been applied at points Q or R in
figure 5.2, which are in the same vertical line as P, and the effect would have been the same. The
chair would rotate in the same direction, with the same angular acceleration. Therefore, it is
equivalent to assume that F is applied in P, Q, R or any other point in its line of action.
However, even if the initial effect is the same, once the chair starts to rotate, the higher the point
where F is applied, the more the chair will rotate until the line of action of its weight coincides
with the line of action of F , reaching the equilibrium position.
Whenever it was necessary to add forces in chapter 4, we assumed that they could be moved
freely and added together as free vectors, using the parallelogram rule. In the following sections
it is shown that this sum of forces as if they were free vectors is not wrong, as long as the
rotation effect introduced when moving a force to a different line of action is also taken into
account. The translation of a body is determined by the resultant force, which can be obtained
adding all external forces as free vectors. The rotation, or lack of it, is also determined by the
external forces but regarded as sliding vectors and not as free vectors.

5.2. Superposition of forces

To determine how forces and other sliding vectors must be added, let us start by the simplest
case, when the forces to be added have the same line of action. For example, if we are going to
lift a book that is resting on a horizontal table, as in figure 5.3, in order to apply an upward force
in the same vertical line as the center of gravity we could drill a hole through the book, going
through the center of gravity, and pass a string through the hole attaching it to a washer on the
bottom of the book.

Figure 5.3: Collinear forces.

When we pull up the string with a force F , that force will be collinear with the weight;
namely, they act along the same line of action, so the two forces can be moved to a common
point in that line, and added as free vectors. If | F| is bigger than the weight mg , the book
accelerates upwards without rotating; | F| is then reduced to mg to maintain a constant speed.
Once the book is approaching the height where we want it to be, we reduce the force on the
string even more, making it smaller that the weight so the speed will decrease until it stops, at
which point we increase the force again, balancing the weight. book stop at some height. We are
so used to following that process every time we lift an object, that we might not be aware of its
complexity. But if we have to program a robot arm to do it, we would have to follow all of those
steps.

If we don't want to drill a hole through the book to lift it, we could also pass a strip of paper
under it, as shown in the left side of figure 5.4, and pull up the two ends of the strip keeping the
book horizontal as it raises. We would then be applying two forces F1 and F2 as shown in the
middle of the figure.

Figure 5.4: Addition of concurrent forces.

Those two forces are called concurrent, because their lines of action cross each other at a point
P. We can then move each force along its line of action, to the point P, and add them there as free
vectors to give the resultant force Fr , as shown in the right side of figure 5.4. Notice that, if the
book is lifted keeping it horizontal, it does not rotate so the resultant force Fr must be collinear
with the weight m g . That means that point in figure 5.4 the point P and the center of gravity C
of the book must be in the same vertical line; the magnitudes and directions of the two
forces F1 and F2 must be such that their lines of action cross in a point which is in the same
vertical as the center of gravity.
When the lines of action of two forces F1 and F2 are parallel, as is the case in figure  5.5, we
can use the following procedure to add them: two additional collinear forces F and − Fare
added, in a direction perpendicular to the lines of action of F1 and F2 , as shown in the
middle of the figure. That does not alter the system, since the sum of those two additional forces
is zero. The force − F is then added together with F1 , in their common point, giving a
force F 1 , and F is added together with F2 , in their common point, giving a
force F 2 . These two new forces F 1 and F 2 are now concurrent and can be added in
their common point P (right side of figure  5.5) giving the resultant force Fr .

Figure 5.5: Addition of parallel forces.

Notice that the resultant force Fr is also in the same direction as the original forces and with
magnitude equal to the sum of the magnitudes of F1 and F2 , since teh sum of the free
vectors F 1 and F 2 at P equals the sum of F1 and F2 as free vectors:

(5.1)
 Fr= F 1+ F 2= F1− F + F2+ F = F1+ F2

If F1 and F2 had opposite directions, the resultant force would be inn the direction of the
force with the biggest magnitude and the magnitude of the resultant would bee equal to the
difference between the magnitudes of the two forces.

Figure 5.6: Line of action of the resultant.

The line of action of the resultant force Fr will alos be parallel to the lines of action of the two
forces F1 and F2 . To determine the distances d1 and d2 between the lines of action of the
parallel forces F1 and F2 , and their resultant Fr , we observe in figure 5.6 that the distance
between the common point P in the lines of action of F 1 and F 2 and point Q, where the
line of action of the resultant crosses the segment joining the points where F1 and F2 are
applied, is equal to:
(5.2)
PQ=d1ta nθ1=d2ta nθ2

where θ1 and θ2 are the angles that F 1 and F 2 make with the perpendicular to their lines
of action. Since F 1 is the sum of the two perpendicular forces F1 and − F , and F 2 is
the sum of the two perpendicular forces F2 and F , the tangents of those two angles are

(5.3)
ta nθ1=F1Fta nθ2=F2F

and substituting those two expressions into equation 5.2, we arrive to the so-called law of the
lever:

(5.4)
F1d1=F2d2

Therefore, to lift the book with two vertical forces without making it rotate, it would be
necessary that the ratio between the magnitude of the forces, F1/F2 , be the inverse of the ratio
between their distances of their lines of action to the center of gravity, d2/d1 .

5.3. Moments and couples

The law of the lever can be explained by introducing the concept of moment of a force about a
point. The moment of a force F about a point O is defined as the product of the magnitude of
the force by the distance d from point O to the line of action of F:

(5.5)
Mo=Fd

d is called the moment arm of the force and the moment about a point is also called torque. The
moment Mo measures the rotational effect produced by the force when point O is fixed. The
further away the action line of the force is from point O, the bigger the rotation effect it
produces. This explains why it is more difficult to close or open a door if the force is applied too
close to the hinges: the moment of the force about the hinges is small when its line of action is
close to the rotation axis of the door.
 Figure 5.7: Moment of a force.

If r is the position vector of the point P where the force F is applied, relative to point O, the
moment arm of the force about point O is equal to rsi nθ, where θ is the angle between the
vectors r and F (figure  5.7). We then conclude that the moment of the force about point O is
equal to,

(5.6)
Mo=Frsi nθ

It should be noted that (Fsi nθ ) is the component of the force in the direction perpendicular to
the position vector r , that is, the moment of the force about O is also equal to the product of
the distance | r| , from its point of application to point O, times the component of the force
perpendicular to r . The moment produced by a force is due solely to its component
perpendicular to the segment from the reference point to the point where the force is applied.

Equation  5.6 shows that the moment of a force is also equal to the magnitude of the cross
product between the position vector and the force. It is convenient to define the vector moment:

(5.7)
Mo= r× F
The vector Mo produces a rotation about O on a plane perpendicular to Mo and in the sense
given by the right-had rule. In figure 5.7 the moment is a vector that points outside of the figure
and can be represented by an arc with an arrow in the sense of the rotation.

Figure 5.8: Couple.

The method described to add parallel forces would fail when the two forces constitute a couple,
which are two parallel forces with the same magnitude but opposite directions, as in figure 5.8.
In that case F 1 and F 2 would still be parallel and could not be added as concurrent
forces. However, in that case equation 5.1 shows that the resultant will be zero. Thus, a couple
will not produce any translation, just rotation. The total moment about the origin O is the sum of
the moments of the two forces:

(5.8)
rQ× F− rP× F= rQ− rP × F

The two position vectors of the points Q and P depend on the choice of the origin O, but their
difference rQ− rP does not change if the origin O is moved to another point.

That means that the couple produces a moment M that does not depend on any reference point,
(5.9)
M= rQ/ P× F

The couple of the two forces in figure 5.8 is a vector pointing out of the figure, represented by
the circular arc with an arrow in the counterclockwise direction.

A force F applied at a point P can be moved to another point Q, outside its line of action, using
the procedure illustrated in figure 5.9: we add two equal and opposite forces − F and F in
points P and Q, which a moment that we will call − M (in the clockwise sense in the case of the
figure); in order to keep the system the same, we must then add also a couple M(in the anti-
clockwise sense) which will balance the moment − M . We are then left with two equal and
opposite forces at point P, which will eliminate each other leaving only the force F at point P,
and the couple M :

(5.10)
M= rP/ Q× F

which is equal to the moment MQ that the original force in P produced with respect to the
point Q where it was moved.

Figure 5.9: Procedure to move a force from a point P to another point Q.

We can then conclude that the resultant of a system of force is equal to their sum as free vectors
and can be placed at any point Q, provided we also include a resultant couple which is equal to
the sum of the moments of all the forces with respect to that point.

When the direction of the forces are on the same plane, it will be convenient to use Cartesian
coordinates x and y on that plane, with origin at the point where we want to place the resultant
force. With that choice of coordinates, the moment of each force Fn with respect to the origin
will only have a z component, equal to the 2-by-2 determinant:

(5.11)
Mn=⏐⏐ ⏐ ⏐xnynFx,nFy,n⏐⏐ ⏐ ⏐

where xn and yn are the coordinates of the point where force Fn=Fn,xˆı+Fn,yˆ acts. With a
total of p forces, all on the xy plane, the resultant force and couple are the following

(5.12)
Fr= p n=1Fn,x ˆı+ p n=1Fn,y ˆ

Mr= p n=1⏐⏐ ⏐ ⏐xnynFx,nFy,n⏐⏐ ⏐ ⏐ ˆk

The resultant force can then be moved to another line of action, a distance Mr/Fr from its line of
action in Q, in order to eliminate the resultant couple Mr leaving just the resultant force.

When the lines of action of the forces are not in the same plane, the resultant couple Mr will
also include a component parallel to the resultant force Fr , which cannot be eliminated by
moving that resultant force to another point. In that case the simplest form of the resultant is a
force and a couple in the same direction.

5.4. Rigid bodies in equilibrium

A rigid body is in equilibrium if the sum of all forces acting on it gives a resultant force Fr and
couple Mr both equal to zero. Notice that in that case, the resultant couple will be zero with
respect to any point, because moving the resultant force Fr=0 to any other point does not
introduce any additional moment. When a rigid body is in equilibrium, it will not have any linear
or angular acceleration; therefore, it could be in a static position or moving with constant
velocity (linear and/or angular).

Thus, when we know that a rigid body is static or moving with constant velocity, the equilibrium
conditions establish that the vector sum of all external forces is equal to zero, and the sum of the
moments of those forces, relative to any reference point, is also equal to zero. zero.

Example 5.1
The car in the figure is stopped on a horizontal road. The car weighs 9000 N and its center of
gravity, C, is 60 cm behind the front wheels axle and 120 cm in front of the rear wheels axle.
Find the normal force on each tire.
Resolution. The car is in equilibrium, since it is at rest. The figure on the right shows the free-
body diagram for the car; N1 is the sum of the two normal forces on the front tires and N2 is the
sum of the normal forces on the rear tires. If there are frictional forces in the tires, they can not
be calculated when we consider the whole car as a single rigid body; all we can conclude is that
the sum of the frictional forces in the four tires is zero. The condition for the sum of the vertical
forces to be zero is:

N1+N2=90 0 0

To find the value of these two variables, we must also use the condition that the sum of the
moments of all forces, about any chosen point, must be zero. The sum of the moments about
point A is:

1.8N2−0.6×90 0 0=0=⇒N2=30 0 0 N

This value could then be substituted in the condition for the sum of the vertical forces, but it is
also possible to use the condition that the sum of moments about point B is also zero:

1.2×90 0 0−1.8N1=0=⇒N1=60 0 0 N
Assuming that the center of gravity is at the same distance from the left and right tires, the
normal forces on the two front tires would be the same and therefore the normal force on each
front tire would be 30 0 0  N. And in each rear tire the normal force would be 15 0 0  N.

If the car were moving with constant velocity, it would still be in equilibrium but we would then
have to take into account the air resistance which is a force pointing to the right and a little
downwards. There would be frictional forces in the tires, the sum of which would be equal and
opposite to the horizontal component of the resistance force of the air. Since the frictional forces
and the air resistance force act on different lines of action, they would produce a couple that
would make the car rotate, increasing the normal forces in the rear tires and diminishing the
normal forces in the front tires. To compute that couple, it would be necessary to know the drag
coefficient CD , the speed of the car and the point of application of the resultant resistance force.

5.5. Center of mass

The mass in a rigid body is continuously distributed in a volume. If the total mass of the body
is m and dm is the infinitesimal mass that exists in the neighborhood of a point in the body, then

(5.13)
m= dm

Where the integral is a triple integral, within the volume occupied by the solid, since dm is the
product of the density ρ times the infinitesimal volume dxdydz .

The position vector of the center of mass, rcm , is defined as the mean value of the positions
of the parts of the body, weighed by their mass; namely,

(5.14)
rcm=1m rdm

Example 5.2

Find the position of the center of mass of the homogeneous solid shown in the figure.
Resolution. The volume of the solid is delimited by the 5
planes x=0 , y=0 , y=a , z=0 and z=c(1−x/b) .

The infinitesimal area dm Is equal to the density ρ times the infinitesimal volume, which in
cartesian coordinates is dxdydz . We begin by calculating the total mass from equation 5.13:

m=a 0b 0c(1−x/b) 0ρdzdxdy

Since the body is homogeneous, ρ is constant. In Maxima, the three integrals must be calculated
sequentially; the variable p will represent the density

(%i1) integrate (p, z, 0, c*(1 - x/b))$

(%i2) integrate (%, x, 0, b)$

(%i3) m: integrate (%, y, 0, a);

(%o3) abcp2

Although the intermediate results have not been shown, they are stored in
the %o1 and %o2 variables.

To compute rdm , the same volume integral is repeated, changing the integrand from ρ to
(ρ r )

(%i4) r: [x, y, z]$

(%i5) integrate (p*r, z, 0, c*(1 - x/b))$

(%i6) integrate (%, x, 0, b)$

(%i7) rcm: integrate (%,y,0,a)/m;

(%o7) b3,a2,c3

We conclude that the position vector of the center of mass is: rcm=b3ˆı+a2ˆ +c3ˆk .

In every rigid body there is always a single point which is the center of mass. If the origin is
chosen exactly at the center of mass, the integral in equation 5.14 will be zero for each of the
three components:

(5.15)
ρxdxdydz= ρydxdydz= ρzdxdydz=0

The integrals in 5.15 are all zero only if the origin is at the center of mass.

Differentiating the two sides of equation 5.14, with respect to time, gives the expression of the
velocity of the center of mass:

(5.16)
vcm=1m vdm

That is, the velocity of the center of mass is the average of the velocities of all parts of the body,
weighted by their masses.
And differentiating equation 5.16 with respect to time we obtain the acceleration of the center of
mass:

(5.17)
acm=1m adm

Which is the mass-weighted average of the accelerations of all the parts of the body.

If the reference in which the accelerations a are measured is an inertial reference frame, the
product adm is equal to the total force d f acting on the part with mass dm :

(5.18)
d f= adm

Notice that whenever a rigid body is accelerating, there must be an infinitesimal

force d f applied to each part of the body, making them all move together. In most points that
force is due solely to the internal forces of contact between the parts of the body, forces that are
triggered throughout the body by the action of n external forces F1 , F2 , …, Fn applied
in npoints: 1, 2, …, n , where the force f includes the contact forces plus a external force. The
differential d f gives the variation of the total force throughout the body.

Substituting the expression  5.18 into equation  5.17, we conclude that,

(5.19)
d f=m acm

In the integral on the left-hand side, for each internal contact force that exists at one part, there
will be another equal but opposite force at another neighboring part, due to the law of action and
reaction. Therefore, all the internal forces of contact will be eliminated and the integral will give
the sum of the external forces, F1 , F2 , ... , Fn , Which is the resultant force on the rigid
body. As such, equation 5.19 leads to,

(5.20)
Fr=m acm

This important result is the law of motion for the translation of a rigid body:

The motion of the center of mass of any rigid body with mass m is equal to the motion that would
have a point particle with mass m under the action of a force equal to the resultant force on the
rigid body.
Remember that the resultant force is obtained by adding all external forces as if they were free
vectors. If the resultant force is zero, the center of mass will either be at rest or in a state of
uniform rectilinear motion, but other points on the rigid body may have more complicated
motions.

In the case of the weight, the external force is applied in all parts of the rigid body and the
resultant force is m g . Hence, equation 5.19 gives,

(5.21)
gdm=m acm

If the acceleration of gravity g is the same in all points of the body, the integral on the left-hand
side will be equal to m g and we conclude that the acceleration of the center of mass equals the
acceleration of gravity and that the center of gravity, i.e. the point where the total weight acts,
coincides with the center of mass. For rigid bodies with size much smaller than Earth, the
acceleration of gravity can be considered constant throughout the whole body and the center of
mass is at the same point as the center of gravity.

Let us consider for example a triangular piece of board. Hanging it by one of the vertices, it will
begin to oscillate until it stops in a position where the center of gravity is in the same segment of
vertical line that passes through the vertex; by tracing this segment in the triangle and repeating
the procedure for the other two vertices, the point where the three segments intersect will be the
center of gravity and center of mass. If the density of the triangle is equal at all points, each of
the vertical segments will be the median that divides the triangle into two parts with the same
area and mass; therefore, the center of mass is at the intersection of the three medians. In bodies
with symmetrical shapes and constant density, the center of mass lies in the geometric
center. Figure 5.10 shows three other examples.

Figure 5.10: Center of mass of 3 objects with constant density: a sphere, a cylinder and a
parallelepiped.

5.6. Translation without rotation

In a rigid body moving along any path without rotating, the acceleration of all points is the same
at every instant, equal to the acceleration of the center of mass, which is equal to the resultant
force divided by the mass of the body. As the body does not rotate, the resultant couple about the
center of mass should be zero. It should be noted that resultant couple is zero only about center
of mass and not about other points. The resultant couple about an arbitrary point P, equals the
couple of the resultant force, applied at the center of mass.

Example 5.3

The same car of example 5.1, accelerates during 20 s, starting from rest and reaching a final
speed of 60 km/h. Knowing that the center of gravity is 57 cm high above the ground, and
assuming that the acceleration is constant, determine the normal forces and the frictional forces
in the tires, at the instant when it starts moving.

Resolution. When the car starts moving there is no air resistance force, because its speed is zero.
Therefore, the only horizontal forces, responsible for the acceleration, are the static frictional
forces between the tires and the road. The following figure shows the free-body diagram of the
car.

N1 is the sum of the two normal forces in the two front tires, N2 is the sum of the normal
forces in the rear tires and Fs is the sum of the frictional forces in the four tires. Since the
tangential acceleration is constant, it is then equal to increase of the velocity, divided by the time
it took to increase:

at=60 / 3.620=56ms2

The law of motion for translation leads to the following equations:

N1+N2=mgFs=mat=⇒⎧⎨ ⎩N1+N2=90 0 0Fs=90 0 0×59.8×6

Since the car is not rotating, the resultant couple about the center of mass must be equal to zero.
The weight does not produce any moment about the the center of mass. The moments
of N1 and Fs about the center of mass are in the clockwise direction and the moment
of N2 about the center of mass is in the counterclockwise direction. The resultant couple about
the center of mass is then:

1.2N2−0.6N1−0.57Fs=0

The solution of that system of the 3 equations is,

Fs=76 5 NN1=57 5 8 NN2=32 4 2 N

The total frictional forces in the four wheels is 765 N, the normal force on each front tire is
2879 N and the normal force on each back tire is 1621 N. Notice that in the free-body diagram it
makes no difference to put the frictional force in the front wheels or the back wheels; but since it
is a traction force, it will really be produced on the wheels where the traction of the car is
(wheels made to rotate by the engine).

5.7. General motion of the rigid body

The dynamics of the rigid body consists of the study of the effects of external forces and couples
on the variation of its six degrees of freedom. The trajectory of any point in the body, used as
reference point, gives the variation of three of these degrees of freedom. The remaining 3
degrees of freedom are 3 angles. In the spinning top shown in figure 5.11, the two
angles β and φ define the direction of the axis of the top; a third angle, θ , is related to the
rotation of the top with respect to its axis. In this case two of the angles, β and θ , vary with time
and therefore, there are two angular velocities ˙β and ˙θ .
Figure 5.11: The 3 degrees of freedom in the rotation of a rigid body.

The top is spinning around its axis in the direction indicated in the figure for the angle θ , with
angular velocity ω=˙θ . Therefore, its angular velocity vector, ω , is in the direction of its axis
and from the ground to the upper part. Since the axis of the spinning top is not in a vertical
position, its weight and the normal force on the tip of the top produce a couple in the direction in
which φ increases. That couple produces angular acceleration α tangent to the circumference
shown in the figure in the direction shown for the angle β , which makes the angular velocity
vector ω rotate with angular velocity ˙β along the circumference.

The general motion of a rigid body is easier to study using lagrangian dynamics, instead of the
vector dynamics used in this chapter. We will conclude the chapter considering a simpler case in
which the axis of rotation does not move, so there is only one angle changing with time.
5.8. Rotation with fixed axis
When the axis of rotation of a rigid body remains fixed relative to an inertial frame, Newton's
second law will be valid for the accelerations measured in the frame of the rigid body. Thus,
equation 3.35 allows us to calculate the force acting on each part with differential mass dm

(5.22)
d f= Rαˆet−Rω2ˆen dm

Each of these forces produces a moment r×d f about the origin, but since the rigid body can
only rotate around the fixed axis z , it is only relevant to compute the z component of the
moment, obtained using only the projection of the position vector r on the rotation plane:

(5.23)
d Mz=(Rˆen)×d f=R2αˆkdm

By integrating in the volume of the rigid body the z component of the resulting moment is then,

(5.24)
Mr,z= dMz=α R2dm

The angular acceleration was placed outside the integral, because it is the same at all points of
the rigid body. The integral on the right-hand side,

(5.25)
Iz= R2dm

Is called moment of inertia of the rigid body, relative to the z axis.

In the integral dMz , all moments of the internal forces of contact will cancel, as a
consequence of the law of action and reaction, and the result will be resultant couple of the
external forces, F1 , F2 , …, Fn . Thus, equation  5.24 leads to the law of motion for rigid
body rotation around a fixed axis:

(5.26)
Mr,z=Izα

In a rigid body that can only rotate around a fixed axis, the resultant couple with respect to a
point in the axis has component along that axis equal the product of the body's moment of inertia
relative to the axis, times the angular acceleration.

Example 5.4
Determine the moment of inertia of a homogeneous cylinder of radius R and height L , around its
axis.

Resolution. It is convenient to use cylindrical coordinates with the z axis at the axis of the
cylinder. The volume of the cylinder is defined by the
conditions: 0≤z≤L , 0≤θ≤2π , 0≤R ≤R (we use R for the cylindrical coordinate, to avoid
confusion with the cylinder radius).

The differential element of volume in cylindrical coordinates is (RdRdθdz ) and

hence, dm=ρRdRdθdz , where ρ is the density. The moment of inertia is then,

Iz=ρL 02π 0R 0R 3dR dθdz=ρπLR42

Notice that the mass of the cylinder is obtained by the integral:

m=ρL 02π 0R 0R dR dθdz=ρπLR2

Thus, the expression for the moment of inertia is: Iz=12mR2

The role played by the moment of inertia in rotations is similar to the role of the mass in
translation motions. The bigger the moment of inertia, the less the angular acceleration that the
resultant couple will produce. Observe the similarity between equation 5.26 and Newton's second
law.

Table  5.1 shows the expressions of the moment of inertia of some solids around the axes that
pass through their center of mass. The moment of inertia is always directly proportional to the
mass of the body. The radius of gyration is a typical length for each geometrical shape, defined
as the square root of the moment of inertia divided by the mass:

(5.27)
rg= Izm
Table 5.1: Moments of inertia of some solids with constant density around axes passing through
the center of mass.

Sphere Cylinder Parallelepiped

 Axis 1:m2R2

25mR2 Axis 2:m12 3R2+L2 m12 a2+b2

The moment of inertia around an axis through the center of mass can be used to obtain the
moment of inertia around any other parallel axis out of the center of mass, using the parallel-
axis theorem :

(5.28)
Iz=Icm+md2

where m is the mass of the body and d is the distance between the two parallel axes. It is also
possible to compute the moment of inertia of a body by adding the moments of inertia of the
various parts of it, since the integral 5.25 can be written as the sum of the integrals in the various
parts.

The moment of a thin bar of length L can be obtained from table 5.1, either for the expression for
a cylinder, around axis 1 and in the limit R→0 , or from the expression for a parallelepiped
with b=L and a→0

A pulley with a shaft attached to a fixed base is an example of a rigid body with a fixed rotation
axis. If the pulley is homogeneous, the center of mass will also be on the axis of the shaft.
Figure 5.12 shows a pulley of mass m and radius R , with a string that moves with the pulley
without sliding on its surface. The external forces and couples are the weight, m g, the tensions
in the string in both sides of the pulley, F1 and F2 , the contact force on the shaft, Fc and a
couple M produced by friction between the shaft and the pulley, in the direction opposite to the
rotation of the pulley (the pulley was assumed rotating clockwise in figure 5.12).

Figure 5.12: External forces and couples on a pulley.

The weight of the pulley and the contact force Fc do not produce moment around the axis.
Since the pulley is a cylinder, using the expression for the moment of inertia in table 5.1, the
equation for the resultant couple is (assuming the angular acceleration is in the clockwise sense),

(5.29)
RF1−RF2−M=12mR2α

When friction on the shaft can be ignored,

(5.30)
F1−F2=12mat

where at=Rα is the tangential acceleration of a point on the string. Note that, regardless of the
radius of the pulley, when its mass is much smaller than F1/at and F2/at , it may be assumed that
the tension is equal on both sides of the rope.

Questions
(To check your answer, click on it.)

1. The cartesian components of a force are F=−3ˆı−2ˆ . In which of the positions on the
list should the force be applied to produce a clockwise moment about the origin?
A. −2ˆı+3ˆ
B. −3ˆı+2ˆ
C. 2ˆı+3ˆ
D. 3ˆı+2ˆ
E. 3ˆı−2ˆ
2. Two children with masses 30 kg and 45 kg are sitting on both sides of a seesaw. If the
heavier child is sitting 1.2 m from the pivot point of the seesaw, how far from that point
should the other child sit to keep the seesaw balanced?
A. 1.5 m
B. 0.8 m
C. 1.8 m
D. 1.2 m
E. 0.98 m
3. If an object is divided into two parts, making a vertical cut along a line that passes
through its center of gravity, which of the statements about the two pieces obtained is
true?
A. They must have the same mass.
B. They may have different masses.
C. They should have the same weight.
D. They must have the same area.
E. They must have the same volume.
 4. Two external forces are exerted on a wheel, as shown in the figure. Compute the resultant
moment about point O, in units of N·m.

A. 0.57
B. 1.05
C. 4.35
D. 5.67
E. 6.15
5. A metal part with constant density and mass m is constructed with two cylinders of the
same height, but two different radii a>b , glued one over the other so that their axes are
aligned. Find the expression of the moment of inertia of the part around its axis of
symmetry.
A. 12m a2−b2
B. 12m a4+b4
C. 12m a4+b4a2+b2
D. 12m a2+b2
E. 12m a2+b2a+b

Problems
1. The hammer in the figure
is placed over a block of wood of 40 mm of thickness, to facilitate the extraction of the
nail. If a force of 200 N (perpendicular to the hammer) is required to extract the nail, find
the force on the nail and the force at point A while the nail starts to be removed in the
position shown. Assume that the weight of the hammer can be neglected, compared to the
other forces and that there is enough friction in A to prevent the hammer from sliding.
2. A front-wheel drive car accelerates evenly from rest reaching a speed of 100 km/h in 11
seconds. If the car's weight is 9750 N, find the normal reactions and the frictional force
on each tire, in the moment when it starts moving. What is the minimum value that
should have the coefficient of static friction between the tires and the road so that the car
can achieve this acceleration?
3. A 45 kg cabinet,
mounted on wheels that let it roll freely on the floor, is accelerated by an external force of
310 N.
(a) Find the maximum and minimum values that the height y can have for the cabinet to
accelerate without the wheels losing contact with the ground.
(b) Find the cabinet's acceleration when y is between the minimum and maximum values
obtained in part a.
4. Using integration in the volume of the solid, prove the result of table 5.1 for the moment
of inertia of a rectangular parallelepiped with axis of rotation perpendicular to one of its
faces and passing through the center of mass.
5. A homogeneous cylindrical wooden beam, with diameter of 48 cm, length of 3 m and
mass of 100 kg, is hung horizontally by means of two 2 m ropes, as shown in the figure.
The beam is released from rest in the position where each rope makes an angle of 60°
with the horizontal. Determine the tension and angular acceleration of each rope at the
exact moment the beam is released from rest.
6. The ladder in the figure rests on a
horizontal surface (point A) and a vertical wall (point B). The coefficient of static friction
between the ladder and the horizontal surface is µs , while the friction of the ladder with
the vertical wall is negligible. Assuming that the center of gravity of the ladder is at half
its length, determine the minimum value of µs , to ensure that the ladder remains at rest.
7. The mass of the trailer in the figure is 750 kg and is being hitched by a car linked to the
trailer at point P. The road is horizontal and the two identical tires can be considered as
one, with a single normal reaction and negligible frictional force; the air resistance will
also be neglected. (a) Compute the normal force in the tires and the vertical force at point
P, when the speed is constant. (b) When the car is accelerating, with at=2  m/s2, the force
at P will have horizontal and vertical components. Compute these components and the
normal force in the tires (the moment of inertia of the wheels and the friction with the
road are negligible).
8. The airplane in the figure, with a total mass of 1.1×105  kg, lands on a horizontal track.
Point C represents the center of gravity. At the instant the speed is 210 km/h (to the
right), the pilot turns the turbines in reverse mode, producing the constant force R shown
in the figure, and after 580 m on the track the speed decreases to 70 km/h. During that
motion, the frictional forces in the tires and the air resistance can be neglected, compared
to R which is much higher. Compute the normal force on the front wheel.

9. A 91 kg man pulls a truck on a horizontal road, with constant speed, using a rope tied to
his back. The figure shows the relative positions of the center of gravity of the man, C,
the point of contact of his foot with the ground, A, and of the point where the rope is
attached to his back, B.
(a) Compute the magnitude of the tension on the rope. (b) Draw a diagram of the forces
 you think might be acting on the truck.

10. The 1.5 kg cylinder in the figure descends vertically, causing the 5 kg block to accelerate
on the horizontal table. The pulley can be considered a uniform disk with mass of 0.4 kg.
The string rotates with the pulley without sliding on its surface. The coefficient of kinetic
friction between the block and the table is 0.2. Determine the value of the acceleration of
the block and cylinder, neglecting the friction in the pulley's shaft, the mass of the string
and the resistance of the air.
11. To test its brakes, a bicycle was placed with the wheels in the air and the front wheel was
made to rotate freely, as shown in the figure. The time taken for the wheel to make 10
turns was measured giving 8.2 s (assume that during those 8.2 s the angular
velocity ω remained constant). Immediately afterwards, the brakes were applied and the
wheel took 2.9 s until it stopped completely. The figure shows the frictional
force F between the friction pads and the rim, which is tangent to the rim and applied at
a distance of 27.1 cm from the wheel axis.
(a) Assuming that the force F is constant, the angular acceleration it produces will also
be constant; compute the angular acceleration.
(b) Determine how may turns the wheel rotated from the moment the brakes were applied
until it stopped.
(c) Knowing that the moment of inertia of the wheel around its axis is 0.135 kg·m2, find
 the magnitude of the force F.

12. A wheel A, with radius of 20 cm, mass of 600 g and a radius of gyration of 12 cm
(relative to its axis), is connected to a motor that exerts a couple M=0.8  N·m on it, in the
direction shown in the figure. Wheel B, with radius of 15 cm, mass of 400 g and radius of
gyration of 10 cm (relative to its axis) remains in contact with wheel A, without slipping.
Wheel B is attached to its shaft by means of a bearing, which causes the friction in the
shaft to be negligible. Determine the angular acceleration of wheel B. Hint: analyze the
free-body diagrams of the two wheels, keeping in mind that there is frictional force
between them.
13. The homogeneous rectangular box in the figure is attached to two hinges that let it turn
covering the window, or move to the horizontal position shown in the figure, to provide
shade during the day. The chain that holds the box in the horizontal position suddenly
breaks and the box falls hitting the wall. Determine the angular velocity with which the
box hits the wall, neglecting the friction in the hinges and the air resistance.
14. A cylindrical object has
mass m distributed uniformly between r2 and r1 (with r2<r1 ), with a cylindrical orifice
of radius r2 , as shown in the figure. Find the expression of the moment of inertia around
the axis of the cylinder. Hint: Determine the mass of the complete cylinder, without
orifice, in terms of m , and the mass of the cylinder which is removed when the orifice is
made; the moment of inertia is equal to the moment of inertia of the complete cylinder
(see table 5.1 ), plus the moment of inertia of the cylinder that has been removed,
assuming that the mass of the latter is negative!
15. To measure the moment of inertia of a pulley with 5 cm of radius, one end of a string was
glued to it, then rolled around it and the other end was connected to a cylinder of
mass m=0.08 0  kg. The cylinder descends freely unrolling the string and making the
pulley accelerate with angular acceleration α=3  Rad/s2. Knowing that the friction in the
pulley shaft produces a constant couple M=0.02  N·m, in the direction indicated in the
figure, find the moment of inertia of the pulley around its axis.
Answers
Questions: 1. E. 2. C. 3. B. 4. D. 5. C.

Problems

1. The nail exerts a downward force of 1000 N. FA=−18 7.9ˆı+93 1.6ˆ (N)
2. Front Tires: N=30 2 0  N, Fs=12 5 6  N. Rear tires: Rn=18 5 5  N, Fs=0 (Assuming the
rear wheels are perfectly free). The minimum coefficient of static friction is 0.416.
3. (a) Minimum height 38.6 cm, maximum height 135.4 cm (b) a=6.89 ˆı (m/s2)
4. In this case R2=x2+y2 and the volume of the solid is defined
by −a/2≤x≤a/2 , −b/2≤y≤b/2 , −c/2≤z≤c/2 .
5. TA=15 3.4  N, TB=69 5.3  N, αA=αB=g/4=2.45  Rad/s2
6. 0.21
7. (a) N=54 5 5  N, Fy=18 9 5  N. (b) Fx=15 0 0  N, Fy=14 2 6  N, N=59 2 3  N.
8. 44 8×103  N.
9. (a) 559 N. (b) The forces acting in the truck are the tension of the rope, T , the
weight, Fg , the normal forces in the tires, N1 and N2 and the frictional forces on
 the tires, F1and F2 :

10. 0.7313 m/s2.
11. (a) 2.64 s-2. (b) 1.77 turns. (c) 1.32 N.
12. 67.72 s-2.
13. 5.274 s-1
14. m2 r21+r22
15. 0.0062 kg·m2