Torques: How Important?

No, it's not that important, but u should be comfortable with all the problems and formulas when u take the real test...

for example, I took april 12th test, and there was no torque problems, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't study for it. Some of the passages require you to correlate many different physical concepts... Plus, there are some torque problems in aamc cbt tests as well.

 

Torque is not a difficult concept to grasp. Make sure you learn it down pat, on the off chance you get a question on it, why lose the free point?

Think of it like this, A force when placed at the center of mass of an object has a tendency to want to translate an object, whereas a force not at the center of mass will both translate and rotate an object. Torque can be thought of as the tendency of a force to want to rotate the object, and is the product of the force times the distance to the center of mass. However, only the component normal to the object tends to rotate it, which is where the sin theta comes from.