In physics, net force is the overall force acting on an object. In order to perform this calculation the body is isolated and interactions with the environment or constraints are introduced as forces and torques forming a free-body diagram.
The net force does not have the same effect on the movement of the object as the original system forces, unless the point of application of the net force and an associated torque are determined so that they form the resultant force and torque. It is always possible to determine the torque associated with a point of application of a net force so that it maintains the movement of the object under the original system of forces.
With its associated torque, the net force becomes the resultant force and has the same effect on the rotational motion of the object as all actual forces taken together. It is possible for a system of forces to define a torque-free resultant force. In this case, the net force when applied at the proper line of action has the same affect on the body as all of the forces at their points of application. It is not always possible to find a torque-free resultant force.
Read more about Net Force: Total Force, Parallelogram Rule For The Addition of Forces, Resultant Force, Usage
Famous quotes containing the words net and/or force:
“You have been trapped in the inescapable net of ruin by your own want of sense.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)
“The sure way of judging whether our first thoughts are judicious, is to sleep on them. If they appear of the same force the next morning as they did over night, and if good nature ratifies what good sense approves, we may be pretty sure we are in the right.”
—Horace Walpole (1717–1797)