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Home Concept Builders Rotational Motion and Balance Balanced vs. Unbalanced Torques Help Help 3

Balanced vs. Unbalanced Torques - Questions 3 Help

A torque, acting by itself, will cause a beam to rotate. But two torques exerted on the same beam may or may not balance their effects upon the beam. Torques which are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction will balance each other. But when not balanced, the combined effect of the torques is to cause the beam to rotate from its otherwise stationary position.

There are four similar versions of this question. Here is one of the versions:

Version 1:

The diagram shows two torques (t) and their point of application upon a beam.
 
Are these torques balanced or unbalanced?
Will the combined effect of these torques cause the beam to undergo a rotational acceleration?
 

The provided diagram shows two torques experienced by a beam. The torques are caused by a force and the point of application of the force relative to the fulcrum is shown by a dot on the beam. This location is unimportant; it would have been used to calculate the amount of torque from the amount of force. However, since the torque value is already provided, the point of application of the force that caused it is not relevant to the question. The only information in the diagram that is relevant are the two torque values and their direction.

A + or - sign is shown on the torque (τ) quantity. A + torque would cause the beam to rotate in a counter-clockwise direction. And a - torque would cause the beam to rotate in a clockwise direction. If the two given torques are equal in magnitude (referring to the numerical value) and opposite in direction (referring to the +/- sign), then they are said to be balanced and they will not cause the beam to rotate or accelerate from its stationary position. On the other hand, unbalanced torques will cause the beam to experience an angular acceleration from its stationary position.

Try these links to The Physics Classroom Tutorial for more help with understanding the concept of torque and rotation:

Sorry. We hope to add resources in the future.

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