WHAT IS TORQUE?Torque is a measure of how much a force acting on an object causes that object to rotate. The object rotates about an axis, which we will call the pivot point, and will label 'O'. We will call the force 'F'. The distance from the pivot point to the point where the force acts is called the moment arm, and is mark by 'r'. Note that this distance, 'r', is also a vector, and points from the axis of rotation to the point where the force acts.
There may be more than one force acting on an object, and each of these forces may act on different point on the object. Then, each force will cause a torque. The net torque is the sum of the individual torques.
Rotational Equilibrium is analogous to translational equilibrium, where the sum of the forces are equal to zero. In rotational equilibrium, the sum of the torques is equal to zero. In other words, there is no net torque on the object.
Another way of expressing the above equation is that torque is the product of the magnitude of the force and the perpendicular distance from the force to the axis of rotation
