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Unit 3

Physics 4451 (Unit 3) - exam to be taken in June of Y11
Written paper 25%

45 minutes - 45 marks

PHY3H
 
13.1 How do forces have a turning
effect?
Even if the forces acting on a body are balanced in the sense that they do not cause the body to change speed, they can still make the body turn.  
Candidates should use their skills, knowledge and understanding of how science works:

- to describe how to find the centre of mass of a thin sheet of a material
- to calculate the size of a force, or its distance from an axis of rotation, acting on a body that is balanced
- to analyse the stability of bodies by considering their tendency to topple.


 
Their skills, knowledge and understanding of how science works should be set in these substantive
contexts:

- the turning effect of a force is called the moment.
- the size of the moment is given by the equation:
moment (newton metre, Nm )= force (newton, N) × perpendicular distance from the line of action of the force to the axis of rotation (metre, m)
- the centre of mass of a body is that point at which the mass of the body may be thought to be concentrated.
- If suspended, a body will come to rest with its centre of mass directly below the point of suspension.
- the centre of mass of a symmetrical body is along the axis of symmetry.
- If a body is not turning, the total clockwise moment must be exactly balanced by the total anticlockwise moment about any axis.
- recognise the factors that affect the stability of a body.
- If the line of action of the weight of a body lies outside the base of the body there will be a resultant moment and the body will tend to topple.

 

 

 

 

 

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