Question about System of Forces

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    Forces System
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Trickster_00
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Hi Trickster_00! :smile:
Trickster_00 said:
We have ∑ri x Fi ≠ 0, so why does the force act through the origin?

it can act through anywhere

you could write it as a force acting through (97,6,300000) if you wanted to, but the accompanying couple would be different :wink:

(btw, if the force and the couple were co-planar, you could choose to make the couple vanish)
 
oh, I see you've asked about that in another thread …
Trickster_00 said:
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it's because we can always replace a couple by two equal and opposite forces in the same plane as the couple

so we can make the two forces any magnitude we like, and in any direction in that plane that we like, so long as we adjust the distance between the two forces …

so make one of the two forces (in the couple) equal and opposite to the given force …

then they cancel, leaving only the other force in the couple :wink: