Driving Mathematics Question

[Alastor187]

I only brought up the comment on torque because it is something I struggled with trying to understand the whole "Power vs Torque" arguments. By just looking at the units, which is a logical thing to do, then it leads one to believe that 1 ft-lbf (or lbf-ft) of torque = 1 ft-lbf of work and therefore torque = work but that isn't true.

[RahX]

A lot of people get confused with torque. A lot of the same people get confused with horsepower in almost the same way.

[CL8]

From my study of torque, I read Torque is "turning power" such as turning a door knob, a lid of a jar, or turning a wrench.
However lifting a heavy box is not torque.

Now unless you are talking about the turning of the wheels, how is energy in the impact of a car collision torque?

thanks,
cl8

[Alastor187]

Originally Posted by CL8

Now unless you are talking about the turning of the wheels, how is energy in the impact of a car collision torque?
cl8

Nothing, it was a bit off topic from the original post...just a point of interest when studying physics.

Originally Posted by CL8

From my study of torque, I read Torque is "turning power" such as turning a door knob, a lid of a jar, or turning a wrench.
However lifting a heavy box is not torque.

cl8

You need to be more strict in your terminology. There are three basic mechanical concepts that you should understand:

Force
Work
Power

Torque falls into the first category, Force, and it should not be confused with power. Torque differs from the force acting on the box, only in direction, that is torque occurs along a radius (i.e. an arc) and the force on the box is assumed (I am assuming that is what you implied) to act in a straight line.

[CL8]

Originally Posted by Alastor187

You need to be more strict in your terminology. There are three basic mechanical concepts that you should understand:

Force
Work
Power

Torque falls into the first category, Force, and it should not be confused with power. Torque differs from the force acting on the box, only in direction, that is torque occurs along a radius (i.e. an arc) and the force on the box is assumed (I am assuming that is what you implied) to act in a straight line.

OK, so is it more appropriate to use the term "turning force" rather than "turning power"?

[Alastor187]

Originally Posted by CL8

OK, so is it more appropriate to use the term "turning force" rather than "turning power"?

Yes that is correct.

I would add that most texts would refer to it as a "twisting" force or "torsional" force. Turning force could still be accurate but in some cases it leads to ambiguity.

Also, there could still be such as thing as 'turning power', but it is a measure of power. So if you have a torque you would have 'turning force'. If you applied that torque over some angular distance, you now have done 'turning work'. If that work was done over some finite amount of time, you have now got 'turning power'.

That is the basic relationship between force, work, and power.