Teachers Notes

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Moments are another concept that students have difficulty in understanding. A moment, in Physics, is a turning force where the force applied is perpendicular to the object experiencing the moment.

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Examples of moments are:

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1. A wrench turning a nut

2. Opening a door

3. Ice skater doing a twirl

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The formula for a moment is:

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Moment of a force = Force (N) x Distance (m) (where the distance is the perpendicular position where the force is applied from the object being turned; remember, because Force is a vector quantity then so is a moment; therefore it is important to define whether the turning action is clockwise or anticlockwise as the direction of the applied force will dictate the direction of the moment).

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For teachers it is worth noting that moment has the same units as work done (force x distance). This makes sense because, then a force is applied, the ‘thing’ applying the force is having to do work (for example the tightening of a bolt using a wrench).

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If you have any queries then please email us​​

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