Moments, Levers and Gears

• The turning effect of a force is also known as a moment.
• The equation used to calculate the moment of a force is Force x Distance Moment (Nm), Force (N), Distance (m).
• The distance measurement used when calculating a moment is the perpendicular distance from the pivot to the line of action of the force.
• If an object is in equilibrium, the clockwise moments are equal to the anticlockwise moments.
• A lever can be used as a force multiplier if the distance between the effort and pivot is greater than the distance between the pivot and load, as the force applied on the load is greater than the effort force.
• A lever system consists of three parts: Load, Effort, and Pivot.
• The moment of a gear wheel is determined by the size of the wheel.
• An example of when a lever may be used to multiply a force is a wrench, which has a long handle so that the force applied by the user is multiplied.
• The moment and speed of a larger gear being driven by a smaller gear can be described as follows: the larger gear drives the smaller gear, and the speed of the larger gear is the same as the speed of the smaller gear divided by the ratio of their sizes.