Torques - Turn on the Light!

Once we learned about torques, I came home and realized that there are torques everywhere in all sorts of everyday tasks. Things as simple as opening a door or even turning on a light. I actually thought of physics first when I opened the door, but since we used that example in class I decided to use the second torque I thought of and that was turning on the light.

In my house, the light switches are the regular flip-switches and I realized that, as small as it is, a torque is what makes it turn. The rotation point is inside the wall behind the plate, the lever arm is the protruding switch, and the force is provided by the finger that is flipping the switch.

Another regular task that reminded me of torques is, interestingly, flushing the toilet. The handle is the lever arm and the rotation point is the part that connects to the toilet. Again, you provide the force.

In fact, all the mechanical levers I can think of involve torques to operate. Can a person's limbs and joints also involve torques? Like the knee or elbow? I think it's amazing how many instances I can think of where torques were applied.