Answer to Essential Question 10.
9: A familiar example is a figure skater who spins relatively
slowly with her arms held out from her body, but then pulls her arms in and spins much faster.
10-10 Static Equilibrium
Let’s first apply Newton’s second law for rotation in a
static equilibrium situation, in which an object remains at rest.
Conditions for static equilibrium are given in section 10-9.
EXPLORATION 10.10 – A hinged rod.
Return to the hinged rod we looked at in
Exploration 10.5. The rod’s mass of 2.0 kg is uniformly
distributed along its length L. The rod is attached to a wall Figure 10.24: A diagram of the rod, connected
by a hinge at one end. As shown in Figure 10.24, the angle to the wall by a hinge and held horizontal by a
between the rod and the string, which holds the rod in a string tied to the end of the rod.
horizontal position, is 30˚. Use g = 10 N/kg to simplify the
calculations.
Step 1 – Sketch a free-body diagram of the rod. The free-body
diagram is in Figure 10.25. Start by drawing the force of tension
applied to the rod by the string, which goes away from the rod
along the string. Where should we draw the force of gravity?
Until now, all we had to do was to show the direction of a force
correctly on a free-body diagram. Now that we’re dealing with
torques, it is also critical to locate the force accurately. The force
of gravity should be drawn at the center-of-gravity of the rod,
which is at the rod’s geometrical center because the rod is
uniform. For now, we can assume that the center-of-mass and the Figure 10.25: The free-body
center-of-gravity are the same point. We’ll distinguish between the diagram of the rod.
two later in the chapter.
What other forces act on the rod, in addition to gravity and tension? First, for the rod to
remain in equilibrium, there must be a force directed right, to balance the component of the force
of tension directed left. Second, because the hinge is in contact with the rod, the hinge very likely
exerts a force on the rod. Generally, we draw this hinge force already split into components. The
horizontal component of the hinge force, , is directed right to balance the horizontal
component of the force of tension. The vertical component of the hinge force, , is shown
directed up. This vertical component could, however, be
directed down in some cases, or even be equal to zero. If
you’re not sure which direction a force is in, simply choose
a direction. If the analysis gives a negative sign for a force,
the force is opposite to the direction shown.
Step 2 – Apply Newton’s second law twice, once for the
horizontal direction and once for the vertical direction, to
come up with two force equations for this situation. Figure
10.26 shows the x-y coordinate system, with positive x to
the right and positive y up. The force of tension has been
split into components parallel to the coordinate axes.
Figure 10.26: A free-body diagram showing
the x-y coordinate system, and with all forces
split into components.
Chapter 10 – Rotation I Page 10 - 18
Applying Newton’s second law in the x-direction means:
1. Writing out Newton’s second law: .
2. Recognizing that the right-hand side equals zero, because the rod stays at rest.
3. Looking at the free-body diagram to evaluate the left-hand side of the equation:
.
Using a similar process for the y-direction, we start with , and end up with:
What can we solve for with these two force equations? We can’t solve for anything!
There are simply too many unknowns. If all we knew about were forces, we would be stuck.
Step 3 – Choose an appropriate axis to take torques about. Then, apply Newton’s second law
for rotation to write a torque equation to solve for the tension. What is an appropriate axis to
use? Any axis can be used, but choosing an axis carefully can make a problem significantly easier
to solve. The key is to choose an axis that one or more of the unknown forces pass through,
because forces passing through an axis do not give any torque about that axis. In this case,
we’re trying to solve for the tension in the string, so we should pick an axis that eliminates the
other unknown forces (the hinge forces), if possible. The most appropriate axis here is the axis
perpendicular to the page that passes through the hinge. An axis through the hinge eliminates the
two hinge forces, and the horizontal component of the force of tension, from the torque equation.
As with forces, we are free to choose a positive direction for torque. Let’s use clockwise
in this particular situation (although counterclockwise would be just as good). Applying Newton’s
second law for rotation means:
1. Writing out the equation: .
2. Recognizing that the right-hand side equals zero, because the rod stays at rest.
3. Looking at the free-body diagram to evaluate the left-hand side of the equation, and
applying to find the magnitude of the torque from each force. Recognizing
that the torque due to the force of gravity is clockwise, while the torque due to the
tension is counterclockwise, we get: .
This equation demonstrates the power of using torque, because we can immediately solve
for the tension. Note that the length of the rod, which is unknown, cancels out in the equation.
This gives: .
Because , we find that . Note that the
fact that the force of tension has the same magnitude as the force of gravity in this case is highly
coincidental, and happened only because the factor of two difference in the distances of these
forces from the axis of rotation was exactly balanced by the factor of ½ we got from .
Key ideas: By analyzing situations in terms of torque as well as force, we can solve problems
that cannot be solved using force concepts alone. One of the keys to using torque is to choose an
appropriate axis to take torques around. This is generally an axis that one or more of the unknown
forces passes through. Related End-of-Chapter Exercises: 8, 51 – 53.
Essential Question 10.10: Return to Exploration 10.10, and solve for the x and y components of
the force exerted on the rod by the hinge.
Chapter 10 – Rotation I Page 10 - 19