Law of Moments

Verification of the law of moments.

Aim : To verify the law of moments.
Apparatus: The moment bar with iron stand, weights, hangers, a rider.
Theory
The turning effect of a force about any axis is called the moment of the forces about that axis
and is measured by the product of that force and the perpendicular distance of its line of action
from that axis. Law of moments states that under the action of any number of forces, when a body is
in rotational equilibrium, the algebraic sum of the moments of all forces about the axis of rotation
is zero.
That is the sum of anticlockwise moments is equal to the sum of the clockwise moments.
Procedure
(1) Fix a moment bar on an iron stand and put a rider on the bar so that the bar is completely
horizontal.
(2) Next on each side of the fulcrum, hang the hangers with suitable weights placed on it.
(3) The distance of one hanger is fixed and the other is moving to and fro until the bar is horizontal
again.
(4) Measure the distance of the two hangers from the fulcrum respectively.
(5) Then measure the values d1 and d2.
(6) Repeat the same experiment for another five times by hanging the weights in the hangers.
(7) Record the readings in table 1 on the next page.
(8) Hang suitable weights with hangers on each of the fulcrum.
(9) Moment of a force can be calculated using the formula.
Moment of the force = Force x distance
(1) Observation for known weights

Figure (1) Figure (2)

Table 1 ( F = W = mg = 0.05 x 10 = 0.5 N)
No Anticlockwise direction Clockwise direction
F1 F1 (N) d1 (cm) Moment W2 d2 Moment Difference

1 50 g 10 50 g

2 50g 10 100 g

3 50 g 15 150 g

4 50 g 20 200 g

5 100 g 15 250 g

(2) Observation for Unknown weight

Clockwise moment by unknown weight,
= W1 × d1
Anticlockwise moment by known weight,
= W2 × d2
W1 × d1 = W2 × d2
Unknown weight = W1 = [W2 × d2] / d1 Figure (3)

Table (2)

Unknown Weight
Distance of Distance of (g)
Known Weight W2 × d2
No. known weight unknown weight
W2 (g) (g cm)
d2 (cm) d1 (cm)

1 50 g

2 100g

3 150 g

Result
Using the principle of moments, the weight of the unknown body, W1 = g