Why is the Forces of gravity acting on the particles constituting a body assumed to act parallel to each other?
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Answer:
For a body to be in equilibrium, there must be no net force acting on it. In addition, there must be no net torque acting on it.
When a body has a net force and a net torque acting on it owing to a combination of forces, all the forces acting on the body may be replaced by a single (imaginary) force called the resultant, which acts at a single point on the body, producing the same net force and the same net torque. The body can be brought into equilibrium by applying to it a real force at the same point, equal and opposite to the resultant. This force is called the equilibrant.
The torque on a body due to a given force depends on the reference point chosen, since the torque τ by definition equals r × F, where r is a vector from some chosen reference point to the point of application of the force. Thus, for a body to be at equilibrium, not only must the net force on it be equal to zero but the net torque with respect to any point must also be zero. Fortunately, it is easily shown for a rigid body that, if the net force is zero and the net torque is zero with respect to any one point, then the net torque is also zero with respect to any other point in the frame of reference.
A body is formally regarded as rigid if the distance between any set of two points in it is always constant. In reality no body is perfectly rigid. When equal and opposite forces are applied to a body, it is always deformed slightly. The body’s own tendency to restore the deformation has the effect of applying counterforces to whatever is applying the forces, thus obeying Newton’s third law. Calling a body rigid means that the changes in the dimensions of the body are small enough to be neglected, even though the force produced by the deformation may not be neglected.
Equal and opposite forces acting on a rigid body may act so as to compress the body