James Webb

2 years ago I purchased my first torque wrench and began using it and wondered why the unit was called N-m. A year of college physics 25 yrs ago, and I couldn't remember a thing from that class. It's called a memory dump. Later that summer, a friend who happened to be a physics professor was visiting and I asked him why is Torque not just measured in force. " I can feel the force when I'm tightening the bolt." He told me that distance is involved as well. Torque is the amount of force applied to a lever around a pivot. T=rxF. r is the length of your wrench. F is the force applied to the wrench at a right angle(a Force vector). Expressed in N-m (newton-meters), Kg-cm or inch-lbs. Longer wrench needs less force. If you had a 1 meter long wrench and used a force of 1 newton, it would be the same as a 50 cm wrench and pushing with a force of 2 newtons.

Power (Watts) =torque x 2(pi) x rotational speed. Or as Coach Phil says," To go fast, You have to push a big gear- Fast!"

Hope this helps. Any mechanics,engineers, physicists or students out there, correct me if I'm wrong. Don't go to Wikepedia, your head might explode.