CHAPTER-4

Force System Resultants

Book:
 Engineering Mechanics Statics, R. C. Hibbeler, 12th Ed
 FORCE SYSTEM RESULTANTS
• Moment of a Force – Scalar Formulation

• Cross Product

• Moment of a Force – Vector Formulation

• Principle of Moments

• Moment of a Force about a Specified Axis

• Moment of a Couple

• Simplification of a Force and Couple System

 MOMENT OF A FORCE – SCALAR FORMULATION
• When a force is applied to a body it will produce a tendency for
the body to rotate about a point that is not on the line of action
of the force
• This tendency to rotate is sometimes called a torque, but most
often it is called the moment of a force or simply the moment
• A force applied to the handle of the wrench will tend to turn the bolt
about point O (or the z-axis)
• The magnitude of the moment is directly proportional to the
magnitude of F and the perpendicular distance or moment arm ‘d’
• The larger the force or the longer the moment arm, the greater the
moment or turning effect
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – SCALAR FORMULATION
• If the force F is applied at an angle θ ≠ 90˚, then it will be more
difficult to turn the bolt since the moment arm d’ = d Sin θ will
be smaller than d

• If F is applied along the wrench, its moment arm will be zero

since the line of action of F will intersect point O (the z axis)
As a result, the moment of F about O is also zero and no
turning can occur.
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – SCALAR FORMULATION
• Consider the force F and point O which lie in the shaded plane
• The moment MO about point O, or about an axis passing through O
and perpendicular to the plane, is a vector quantity since it has a
specified magnitude and direction

• Magnitude:
– The magnitude of MO is:
MO = Fd
where d is the moment arm or perpendicular distance from the
axis at point O to the line of action of the force

– Units of moment magnitude consist of force times distance, e.g.

N.m or lb.ft
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – SCALAR FORMULATION
• Direction:
– The direction of MO is defined by its moment axis, which is
perpendicular to the plane that contains the force F and its moment
arm d
– The right-hand rule is used to establish the sense of direction of MO
• The natural curl of the fingers of the right hand, as they are
drawn towards the palm, represent the tendency for rotation
caused by the moment
• As this action is performed, the thumb of the right hand will
give the directional sense of MO
• Notice that the moment vector is represented three-
dimensionally by a curl around an arrow
• In two dimensions this vector is represented only by the curl
• Since in this case the moment will tend to cause a
counterclockwise rotation, the moment vector is actually
directed out of the page
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – SCALAR FORMULATION
• Resultant Moment:
– For two-dimensional problems, where all the forces lie within the
x–y plane, the resultant moment (MR)O about point O (the z axis)
can be determined by finding the algebraic sum of the moments
caused by all the forces in the system
– As a convention, counter-clockwise are considered as positive
moments as they are directed along the positive z axis (out of the
page)
– Clockwise moments will be negative
– Doing this, the directional sense of each moment can be
represented by a plus or minus sign
– Using this sign convention, the resultant moment is therefore:

– If the numerical result of this sum is a Positive Scalar, (MR)O will

be a counterclockwise moment (Out of the Page) and if the result is
Negative, (MR)O will be a clockwise moment (Into the Page)
EXAMPLE 4-1
For each case illustrated, determine the moment of the force about point O.
EXAMPLE 4-2
 CROSS PRODUCT
• The cross product of two vectors A and B yields the vector C, which is
written as:
C = A x B and is read “C equals A cross B”
• Magnitude
– The magnitude of C is defined as the product of the magnitudes of A
and B and the sine of the angle θ between their tails, i.e. C = AB Sin θ
• Direction
– Vector C has a direction that is perpendicular to the plane containing
A and B such that C is specified by the right-hand rule; i.e., curling
the fingers of the right hand from vector A (cross) to vector B, the
thumb points in the direction of C
– Knowing both the magnitude and direction of C, we can write:
C = A x B = (AB Sin θ) uC
where the scalar (AB Sin θ) defines the magnitude of C and the unit
vector uC defines the direction of C
 CROSS PRODUCT
• Laws of Operation
– Commutative Law is not valid: A x B ≠ B x A
– Rather: A x B = -B x A

– Associative Law is valid:

a (A x B) = (aA) x B = A x (aB) = (A x B) a

– Distributive Law is valid:

A x (B + D) = (A x B) + (A x D)
 CROSS PRODUCT
• Cartesian Vector Formulation
– Cross Product of any pair of Cartesian Unit Vectors can be
determined
– e.g. to find i x j, the magnitude of the resultant vector is (i)(j)
Sin 90 = (1)(1)(1) = 1 and its direction is determined using the
right-hand rule
– The resultant vector points in the +k direction. Thus i x j = k
– In a similar manner:

– “Crossing” two unit vectors in a Counterclockwise Fashion

around the circle yields the Positive Third Unit Vector
– “Crossing” two unit vectors in a Clockwise Fashion around the
circle yields the Negative Third Unit Vector
 CROSS PRODUCT
• Cross product of two general vectors A and B is:

• Carrying out the cross-product operations and combining terms yields:

• This equation may also be written in a more compact determinant form as:

To find the Cross Product of any two Cartesian

vectors A and B, expand a determinant whose
first row of elements consists of the unit vectors
i, j, and k and whose second and third rows
represent the x, y, z components of the two
vectors A and B, respectively
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – VECTOR FORMULATION
• The moment of a force F about point O, or actually about the
moment axis passing through O and perpendicular to the plane
containing O and F can be expressed using the vector cross
product as:
MO = r x F
• Here r represents a position vector directed from O to any
point on the line of action of F
• Magnitude:
– The magnitude of the cross product is defined as MO = rF
Sin θ, where the angle θ is measured between the tails of r
and F
– To establish this angle, r must be treated as a sliding vector
so that θ can be constructed properly
– Since the moment arm d = r Sin θ, then:
MO = rF Sin θ = F (r Sin θ) = Fd
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – VECTOR FORMULATION
• Direction:
– Curling the Right-hand Fingers from r toward F (“r
cross F”), the Thumb is directed upward or
perpendicular to the plane containing r and F and this
is in the same direction as Mo
– Since the cross product does not obey the commutative
law, the order of r x F must be maintained to produce
the correct sense of direction for Mo
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – VECTOR FORMULATION
• Principle of Transmissibility:
– The cross product operation is often used in three
dimensions since the perpendicular distance or
moment arm from point O to the line of action of the
force is not needed
– i.e. we can use any position vector r measured from
point O to any point on the line of action of the force
F
– Thus:

– Since F can be applied at any point along its line of

action and still create this same moment about point
O, then F can be considered a sliding vector
– This property is called the principle of
transmissibility of a force
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – VECTOR FORMULATION
• Cartesian Vector Formulation:
– If we establish x, y, z coordinate axes, then the position
vector r and force F can be expressed as Cartesian vectors:

where

– If the determinant is expanded, then:

– Mo will always be perpendicular to the shaded plane

containing vectors r and F
 MOMENT OF A FORCE – VECTOR FORMULATION
• Resultant Moment of a System of Forces:
– If a body is acted upon by a system of forces, the resultant
moment of the forces about point O can be determined by
vector addition of the moment of each force
– This resultant can be written symbolically as:
EXAMPLE 4-3
Determine the moment produced by the force F about point O. Express the result as a
Cartesian vector.
EXAMPLE 4-4
Two forces act on the rod shown. Determine the resultant moment they create about the
flange at O. Express the result as a Cartesian vector.
 PRINCIPLE OF MOMENTS
• Principle of moments is also known as Varignon’s theorem
since it was originally developed by the French
mathematician Varignon
• It states that the moment of a force about a point is equal to
the sum of the moments of the components of the force
about the point
• For example, consider the moments of the force F and two
of its components about point. Since F = F1 + F2, we have:

• For two-dimensional problems, we can use the principle of

moments by resolving the force into its rectangular
components and then determine the moment using a scalar
analysis. Thus,
EXAMPLE 4-5
Determine the moment of the force about point O.
EXAMPLE 4-6
Force F acts at the end of the angle bracket. Determine the moment of the force about point
O.
 MOMENT OF A FORCE ABOUT A SPECIFIED AXIS
• Sometimes, the moment produced by a force about a
specified axis must be determined
• For example, suppose the nut at O on the car tire
needs to be loosened
• The force applied to the wrench will create a
tendency for the wrench and the nut to rotate about
the moment axis passing through O; however, the nut
can only rotate about the y-axis
• Therefore, to determine the turning effect, only the y-
component of the moment is needed, and the total
moment produced is not important
• To determine this component, we can use either a
scalar or vector analysis
 MOMENT OF A FORCE ABOUT A SPECIFIED AXIS
• Scalar Analysis
– The moment arm perpendicular distance from the
axis to the line of action of the force is dy = d cos
θ
– Thus, the moment of F about the y-axis is:
My = F dy = F (d cos θ)
– According to the right-hand rule, My is directed
along the positive y-axis
– In general, for any axis a, the moment is:
 MOMENT OF A FORCE ABOUT A SPECIFIED AXIS
• Vector Analysis
– To find the moment of force F about the y axis
using a vector analysis, we must first determine
the moment of the force about any point O on the
y axis by applying MO = r x F
– The component My along the y axis is the
projection of MO onto the y axis and can be found
using the dot product as:
My = j.MO = j.(r x F)
 MOMENT OF A FORCE ABOUT A SPECIFIED AXIS
• Vector Analysis
– We can generalize this approach by letting ua be the unit vector
that specifies the direction of the a-axis
– Then, the moment of F about the axis is Ma = ua.(r x F)
– This combination is referred to as the scalar triple product
– If the vectors are written in Cartesian form, we have:
 MOMENT OF A FORCE ABOUT A SPECIFIED AXIS
• Vector Analysis
– This result can also be written in the form of a determinant as:

– When Ma is evaluated from this eq, it will yield a positive or

negative scalar
– The sign of this scalar indicates the sense of direction of Ma along
the a-axis
– If it is positive, then Ma will have the same sense as ua , whereas
if it is negative, then Ma will act opposite to ua
– Once Ma is determined, we can then express Ma as a Cartesian
vector, as:
Ma = Ma ua
EXAMPLE 4-7
EXAMPLE 4-8
Determine the moment MAB produced by the force F which tends to rotate the rod
about the AB axis.