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Mass & Inertia

The quantity of matter in a body/object [kg]
Matter: Anything that has mass
and takes up space.

QSU3063
BIOMECHANICS Mass
Pre requisite : Human Anatomy and Physiology (QSU3033)
Mathematics and Physics

Mass and Movement A measure of the inertia

of a body

Mass & Inertia

• Tendency of a body/object
to maintain its current
state of motion (static or
moving)

Inertia

Mass Inertia

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Mass & Weight Mass & Weight

The force of gravity acting on a body/an object [N]
Weight

9.81 m/s2

1.622 m/s²
Mass & Weight Centre of Mass (CoM or CM)
Weight calculation • The centre of mass is a conceptual point, that can be real or
fictitious, where all the mass of a body can be considered to be
concentrated
If the scale shows that a man has a mass of 71 kg, • The fact that it is not a real point that you can weigh or touch
how much does he weight? needs to be kept in mind as it is used so much people often
forget it is not real
W = mg
W = (71 kg) (9.81 m/s2)
W = 697 N

Mass Weight
Scalar Vector
Magnitude Magnitude and Direction

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Centre of Gravity (CoG or CG) CoM (CM) ; CoG (CG) ?!!

• The CoG is the conceptual point in a body or system around
which its mass or weight is evenly distributed or balance and
through which the resultant gravitational forces will pass.
• Imaginary point.
• At the surface of the earth, with uniform gravitational field –
CoG & CoM coincide.
•CoM and CoG are distinctly different concepts
but for most practical purposes they coincide for a
body and the terms are used interchangeably.
•Once you know the differences then swapping
between the two is forgivable but not before.

•Because all of human movement activities we are

concerned with occur on or near the earth, center
of gravity and center of mass may be used
interchangeably.

What is Gravity?
COG
• If a net external force acts on a body, the F = mg
acceleration caused by this net force is the
acceleration of the COG.
• If no external forces act on an object, COG does
not accelerate.
• When we are interpreting & applying Newton’s
laws of motion, it is the center of gravity of a F = Force
body whose motions are ruled by these laws. g = constant 6.67exp-11
• It is thus important to know how to locate or m = mass of body
estimate the location of COG of a body or object. r = separation of masses

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Locating COG of an object Locating the CoG, and hence CoM

• COG is the point in the body around which its weight is • For geometric shapes the
balanced. CoM can be calculated as
• Every object composed of many smaller elements. we know the distribution
• Human body: limbs, trunk, head: hand, forearm etc: of all the points making it
molecules, atoms
• Force of gravity pulls downward on each of these
up
smaller elements.
• The sum or resultant of these is the total weights of the • Humans are not very
object.
geometrical
• This weight acts through a point about which the
moments of the weights of each of the elemental parts
sum to zero, no matter what position the object is in.

Locating the CoG, and hence CoM Locating the CoG, and hence CoM
• The balance or knife edge method can be used on rigid bodies Using equipment:
as the CoG is directly above the point of support
• Humans tend to be floppy and wriggle and go ouch! on knives • Statograph - A device for finding the CoG by
• The balance method makes use of the fact that the system is summing moments about one axis just like the
in EQUILIBRIUM. This can be used to indirectly calculate the balance example
CoG

• Reaction board - A device for finding the CoG by

summing moments about two axis

• In many texts, especially American ones, both of

these will be called reaction boards

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Locating the CoG, and hence CoM Locating the CoG, and hence CoM
Using equipment: Reaction board /Statograph Segmental method :

• Human bodies tend to move a lot and take on

l R2 strange shapes in 3-D

• It is easier to get the CoG for each relatively rigid

bit of limb and then add them up using the principle
that:
R1 mp
mb
d For any system, the sum of the moments of the
component weight forces about any point is equal to
Ta = 0 = (R2) (l) – (mp) (d) – (mb) (1/2 l) the moment of the resultant moments about that
You will do this in more detail in Lab activities point

Locating the CoG, and hence CoM Locating the CoG, and hence CoM
Segmental method example Segmental method example
How do you think we get the CoG values for each
segment?

• We look them up in tables and books

• Measuring them directly involves chopping people

up

• No one volunteers for this and even if they do they

then refuse to do the activity

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Self experiment
• Ruler, eraser, coins
• COG: point of balance
• Counterclockwise torque created by the weight of
the ruler to the left must be balanced by the
clockwise torque created by the weight of the
ruler to the right
• Test with placing coins on the ruler.
• The weight on either side of the COG do not have
to be equal, but the torques created by these
weights about the center of gravity must equal
each other.
Try this
• Length of ruler = 3 m
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Mathematical determination of the
COG location
• ∑T = ∑(W x r) = (∑W) x rcg
• W = weight of one element
• r = moment arm of one element
• ∑W = total weight of the object
• Rcg = moment arm of entire weight of the object (the
location of the COG of the object relative to the axis
about which the moments of force are being
measured)
Diagram 1
• ∑T = ∑(W x r) = (∑W) x rcg
• ∑(W x r) = (1kg x 0m) + (1kg x 3m)
• ∑(W x r) = 3kg∙m
• (∑W) x rcg = (1kg + 1kg) x rcg = (2kg) x rcg
• ∑(W x r) = 3kg∙m = (∑W) x rcg = (2kg) x rcg
• rcg = 3kg∙m /2kg
• rcg = 1.5 m
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Diagram 2 COG of human body

• ∑T = ∑(W x r) = (∑W) x rcg
• ∑(W x r) = (2kg x 0m) + (1kg x 3m)
• ∑(W x r) = 3kg∙m
• (∑W) x rcg = (2kg + 1kg) x rcg = (3kg) x rcg
• ∑(W x r) = 3kg∙m = (∑W) x rcg = (3kg) x rcg
• rcg = 3kg∙m /3kg
• rcg = 1 m
• COG of human body depends on the position of
limbs.
• If you lift your left arm away from your side, your
COG shifts to the left.
• COG in vertical dimension lies within a plane that
passes horizontally through your body 1 to 2 in.
(2.5 to 5 cm) below your navel, or about 6 in. (15
cm) above your crotch.
• This plane is slightly higher than half of your
standing height, about 55% to 57% of your
height.

COG of human body

• Someone with long legs & muscular arms & chest
has a higher COG than someone with shorter,
stockier legs.
• A woman’s center of gravity is slightly lower than
a man’s because women have larger pelvic girdles
& narrower shoulders relative to men.
• A woman’s COG is approximately 55% of her
height of the ground.
• Infants & young children have higher COG
because of their relatively larger heads & shorter
legs.

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COG and stability
• Stability is the capacity of an object to return to
equilibrium or to its original position after it has
been displaced.
• In many sports, athletes do not want to be moved
from a particular stance or position. They want to
be in a very stable position. Eg. Wrestlers, rugby
players, basketball players
• In other sports, success may be determined by
how quickly an athlete is able to move out of a
position. Eg. Sprinter, receiver of serve in racquet
sports
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Altering COG for performance
• During the Olympic Games in Mexico, in 1968, an, until
then unknown athlete, the American Dick Fosbury,
came from nowhere to teach the world about both of
these properties.
• The truly ingenious leap in the technique was that by
clearing the bar with his back and by changing the
shape of his body, the athlete could clear the bar
without his center of gravity having to also clear it.
• By this change in body shape he was able to move his
center of gravity outside his body.
• The energy required for a jump depends on the
maximum height of the center of gravity and so by
lowering its position one also lowers the energy
required to clear the bar.
Dick Fosbury
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Movement (Motion)
Change in position (space & time)

Linear Motion Angular Motion

Translation Rotation

General Motion

Linear motion Angular motion

• A body or object move the same distance, in • A body or object move in a circle (part of
the same direction and at the same time circle) about the same fixed central line or axis

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