Torque

A force turns something only if it acts away from the axis and points off-line from it. Torque measures both at once:

Both forms sit on the AP Physics 1 equation sheet. Here $r$ is the distance from the axis to the point where the force is applied, and $\theta$ is the angle between the force vector and that position vector. EK 5.3.A.1 puts the same idea in words: torque results only from the force component perpendicular to the position vector from the axis of rotation to the point of application of the force.

Newton meters, never joules. Torque and work reduce to the same base units, and both are written $\text{N}\cdot\text{m}$, but torque is never expressed in joules. The joule is kept for energy.

There is no torque of a force, only torque about an axis. Change the axis and the same force produces a different torque, sometimes zero. State the axis or the number means nothing.

Direction is out of scope at AP Physics 1. The Topic 5.3 boundary statement says students are expected to manipulate the magnitude of torque using vector conventions, but that the direction of torque is beyond the course. Signs do the work instead: one sense of rotation is positive, the other negative.

Calculating torques and balancing them is a procedure, covered in how to calculate torque and automated by the torque calculator.