Learning Objectives

After completing today's reading, exercises, and the associated homework you should be able to:

• Define the terms
  • moment,
  • moment arm,
  • couple, and
  • angular momentum
• Find the moment due to a force about a point by
  • taking the cross product of a postition vector (momentum arm) and a force vector,
  • multiplying a perpendicular distance by a force and assigning the direction appropriately (in 2-D situations), and
  • breaking a force into components and then multiplying perpendicular distances, once again assigning the direction appropriately (in 2-D situations)
• Find the moment due to a force couple.