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Principle of Transmissibility

The principle of transmissibility states that moving the point of application of a force along its line of action does not change its external effect on a rigid body. The mathematical reason is that the force and its moment about any reference point are unchanged. For a force F applied at position r, a new point r^'=r+lambdaF gives

r^'×F=r×F+lambdaF×F=r×F,

using the cross product. The restriction to external rigid-body behavior is essential: shifting a force can change internal stresses or deformations in a deformable body.

See also

Cross Product, Principle of Moments

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References

Baker, D. W. and Haynes, W. Engineering Statics: Open and Interactive. https://engineeringstatics.org/.

Cite this as:

Weisstein, Eric W. "Principle of Transmissibility." From MathWorld--A Wolfram Resource. https://mathworld.wolfram.com/PrincipleofTransmissibility.html

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