Torque,
moment, or
moment of force (see the terminology below) is the tendency of a
force to rotate an object about an axis,
fulcrum, or pivot. Just as a force is a push or a pull, a torque can be thought of as a twist to an object. Mathematically, torque is defined as the
cross product of the position vector of the point where the force is applied (
distance vector) and the force vector, which tends to produce rotation.