Can someone explain what torque's direction really is physically and how it applies to procession. I understand the scalar meaning of torque physically, but using the right hand rule the direction of the resultant points up. out of the plane, what does this mean physically.
At first I thought the direction of the torque vector is meaningless and the only reason we use the cross product is to attain the correct scalar quantity when looking at- (sigma torque)= (angular acceleration) x (the moment of inertia). But then in procession that idea breaks down.

Question

Can someone explain what torque's direction really is physically and how it applies to procession.  I understand the scalar meaning of torque physically, but using the right hand rule the direction of the resultant points up. out of the plane, what does this mean physically. 
At first I thought the direction of the torque vector is meaningless and the only reason we use the cross product is to attain the correct scalar quantity when looking at- (sigma torque)= (angular  acceleration) x (the moment of inertia). But then in procession that idea breaks down.

anonymous · Answer

The idea of the right hand rule is that it gives you a way of describing circular motion and torque in a way that is independent of the way you look at the rotating object.

If you use clockwise/couter-clockwise you will get the opposite answer just by looking at the opposite side of a spinning disk

anonymous · Answer

Torque is actually a pseudo vector.its direction points along the axis of rotation of a body. I

anonymous · Answer

listen NRGOALS i will tell u in depth about this.....as we know torque is a vector quantity as it has direction either clockwise or anticlockwise but this would prove a bit complex in solving numericals or in any other problems....as we know that generally vector's direction are in linear form so to make life easier our scientist found a new way to describe this circular direction into linear direction which is known as right hand thumb rule .....thats all

anonymous · Answer

I agree with Ashishjp. It is standard practice to associate a vector to quantities to simplify calculations. Such vectors are generally called pseudo vectors. A convention regarding the direction of the vector is chosen. For example if you consider a flat surface of area A, then an area vector A is defined with a direction normal to the surface and magnitude equal to the actual are of the surface. Similarly, where angular quantities are concerned it is not possible to associate a direction with angular quantities. Thus a vector is associated with them, whose direction is along the axis of rotation. The direction of this vector    (along the axis of rotation) is determined by whether the corresponding linear quantity ( This is where the right hand thumb rule comes in). The magnitude of this vector is equal to the actual magnitude of the "angular quantity".

anonymous · Answer

dear shreyas from where u are???

anonymous · Answer

From Chennai, India.

anonymous · Answer

What about you

anonymous · Answer

m from haryana,india