- Do you turn clockwise or counterclockwise to loosen?
- Do you tighten a bolt clockwise or counterclockwise?
- Why do we rotate counterclockwise?
Do you turn clockwise or counterclockwise to loosen?
Typical nuts, screws, bolts, bottle caps, and jar lids are tightened (moved away from the observer) clockwise and loosened (moved towards the observer) counterclockwise in accordance with the right-hand rule.
Do you tighten a bolt clockwise or counterclockwise?
Then I learned the right-hand rule. It works for standard threads, where you turn clockwise to tighten and counterclockwise to loosen. First, point your right thumb in the direction you want the nut or bolt to travel.
Why do we rotate counterclockwise?
There is no mathematical reason for this. The reason for picking it this way is that rotating the [positive] x-axis onto the [positive] y-axis is about the simplest rotation you can think of, so we decide to call it "positive".