Lesson Plan: Moment of a Force about a Point in 2D: Vectors Mathematics
This lesson plan includes the objectives, prerequisites, and exclusions of the lesson teaching students how to find the moment of a planar system of forces acting on a body about a point as a vector.
Objectives
Students will be able to
- express the moment of a force as a vector,
- find the moment of a force about a point in 2D when given the force as a vector and the 2D coordinates of the relevant points using the cross product,
- find the sum of moments of a system of forces in 2D when given the forces as vectors and the 2D coordinates of the relevant points using the cross product,
- find unknown values when given the moment and the forces as vectors in 2D,
- finding the length of the perpendicular between the line of action of the force and a point using the moment.
Prerequisites
Students should already be familiar with
- vectors,
- the vector (cross) product,
- finding the determinant of a matrix.
Exclusions
Students will not cover
- moments in 3D,
- finding the moment of a force or of multiple forces about a point in scalar form,
- the moment of a couple.