Question

What is the difference between 'torque' and 'work'?

Answer 1

Torque

Torque is defined as the moment of force i.e. the rotating effect produced by a given force.

It is essentially the rotational analogue of force.

For a force `vec F` acting on a point `vec r`, the torque generated about the origin is,

`vec N = vec r X vec F`

Work

On the other hand, the work done by a force `vec F` in displacing an object through a displacement `dvecr` is defined as,

`dW = vec F*dvecr`

Therefore, for a displacement from `a` to `b`, the work done by the force `vec F` is,

`W_(ab) = int_a^b vec F*dvecr`