Editing Torque (section)

== Historical terminology ==
{{See also|Couple (mechanics)}}
The term ''torque'' (from [[Latin]] {{wikt-lang|la|torquēre}}, 'to twist') is said to have been suggested by [[James Thomson (engineer)|James Thomson]] and appeared in print in April, 1884.<ref>
{{cite book
 |url= https://archive.org/details/collectedpapers00larmgoog/page/n110
 |title= Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering
 |page=civ
 |first1= James |last1= Thomson
 |first2= Joseph |last2= Larmor
 |publisher= University Press
 |date= 1912
}}</ref><ref name="thompson1">
{{cite book
 |last1=Thompson
 |first1=Silvanus Phillips
 |title=Dynamo-electric machinery: A Manual For Students Of Electrotechnics
 |url=https://archive.org/details/dynamoelectricm17thomgoog/page/n125
 |publisher=New York, Harvard publishing co 
 |date=1893
 |edition=4th
 |page=108
}}</ref><ref name="oed1933">
{{cite encyclopedia
 |title=torque
 |encyclopedia=Oxford English Dictionary
 |year=1933
 |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.271837/page/n571
}}</ref> Usage is attested the same year by [[Silvanus P. Thompson]] in the first edition of ''Dynamo-Electric Machinery''.{{r|oed1933}} Thompson describes his usage of the term as follows:{{r|thompson1}}

{{Blockquote
 |text=Just as the Newtonian definition of ''[[force]]'' is that which produces or tends to produce [[motion]] (along a line), so ''torque'' may be defined as that which produces or tends to produce ''[[Torsion (mechanics)|torsion]]'' (around an axis). It is better to use a term which treats this action as a single definite entity than to use terms like "[[Couple (mechanics)|couple]]" and "[[Moment (physics)|moment]]", which suggest more complex ideas. The single notion of a twist applied to turn a shaft is better than the more complex notion of applying a linear force (or a pair of forces) with a certain leverage.
}}

Today, torque is referred to using different vocabulary depending on geographical location and field of study. This article follows the definition used in US physics in its usage of the word ''torque''.<ref name=Hendricks>''Physics for Engineering'' by Hendricks, Subramony, and Van Blerk, Chinappi page 148, [https://books.google.com/books?id=8Kp-UwV4o0gC&pg=PA148 Web link] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170711055515/https://books.google.com/books?id=8Kp-UwV4o0gC&pg=PA148 |date=2017-07-11 }}</ref>

In the UK and in US [[mechanical engineering]], torque is referred to as ''moment of force'', usually shortened to ''moment''.<ref name=Kane>Kane, T.R. Kane and D.A. Levinson (1985). ''Dynamics, Theory and Applications'' pp. 90–99: [http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/638 Free download] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150619052426/http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/handle/1813/638 |date=2015-06-19 }}.</ref> This terminology can be traced back to at least 1811 in [[Siméon Denis Poisson]]'s {{lang|fr|Traité de mécanique}}.<ref>{{cite book
 |last1=Poisson
 |first1=Siméon-Denis
 |author-link=Siméon Denis Poisson
 |title=Traité de mécanique, tome premier
 |date=1811
 |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k903370/f99.item
 |page=[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k903370/f99.item 67]
}}</ref> An English translation of Poisson's work appears in 1842.