What exactly is the center of mass?
From what I have learned, motion can be divided into two types; translational motion and rotational motion. Translational motion is any motion that does not involve spinning or rotating. Moving in a straight line is translational. Moving along a parabolic curve is also translational. Rotational motion, as the name implies, is spinning motion. For rotational motion, we studied objects rotating along fixed circle, with a fixed radius and axis of rotation.
So how does translational and rotational motion relate to the center of mass?
In real solutions, an object seldom goes through pure translational motion; objects can also move and rotate at the same time (planets, for example). Observations indicate that even if an object rotates, or several parts of a system of objects move relative to one another, there is one point that moves relatively similar to the path of pure translational motion. This point is called the center of mass (CM).
The CM coincides with the center of gravity (CG) of a particular object (CM and CG are the same point), but there is a conceptual difference between the two.
There is a formula for calculating the CM of a system of objects, but it would be tiring to state it here...
Click the link if you're willing to know more. Watch the video and see how the formula is applied to determine the CM.
From what I have learned, motion can be divided into two types; translational motion and rotational motion. Translational motion is any motion that does not involve spinning or rotating. Moving in a straight line is translational. Moving along a parabolic curve is also translational. Rotational motion, as the name implies, is spinning motion. For rotational motion, we studied objects rotating along fixed circle, with a fixed radius and axis of rotation.
So how does translational and rotational motion relate to the center of mass?
In real solutions, an object seldom goes through pure translational motion; objects can also move and rotate at the same time (planets, for example). Observations indicate that even if an object rotates, or several parts of a system of objects move relative to one another, there is one point that moves relatively similar to the path of pure translational motion. This point is called the center of mass (CM).
The CM coincides with the center of gravity (CG) of a particular object (CM and CG are the same point), but there is a conceptual difference between the two.
There is a formula for calculating the CM of a system of objects, but it would be tiring to state it here...
Click the link if you're willing to know more. Watch the video and see how the formula is applied to determine the CM.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teynoIDTlSU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_mass
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