Lecture 10

Centre of Gravity

Centre of gravity of a body is the point through which the whole weight of the body acts. A body has only
one centre of gravity for all positions of the body. It is represented by C.G. or simply G.

Centroid

The point at which the total area of a surface or the total volume of a solid is assumed to be concentrated, is
known as the centroid of that surface or solid. The centroid is also represented by C.G. or simply G.

The centroid and centre of gravity are at the same point if mass is uniformly distributed within the body. For
non-uniform distribution of mass, the centroid and the centre of gravity can be different.

Centre of mass

The point at which the total mass of a body is assumed to be concentrated. A body has only one centre of
mass for all positions of the body. For small bodies on surface of earth, the centre of mass and C.G are the
same. However, in the presence of non-uniform gravitational field acting on the body, the two centres can
be different. See figures 1 and 2.

Figure 1: Uniform gravitational field

Figure 2: Non-uniform gravitational field

Centroid of some common geometric shapes

(i) The centre of gravity (C.G.) of a uniform rod lies at its middle point.
(ii) The centre of gravity of a triangle lies at the point where the three medians of the triangle meet.
(iii) The centre of gravity of a rectangle or of a parallelogram is at the point, where its diagonal meet each
other. It is also the point of intersection of the lines joining the middle points of the opposite sides.
(iv) The centre of gravity of a circle is at its centre.
Refer figure 3.
 Figure 3: Centroid of some common geometric shapes

Method of moments for finding location of centroid of any area

Consider a random area as shown in figure 4. The centroid of the area is to be determined. In order to do so,
first we split the given area into a large number of infinitesimally small areas as shown in the figure.

Figure 4: Area split into small areas.

In the figure, x1, x2 etc. are the x distances of centroids of individual areas from the origin ‘O’. Now the x
distance of the centroid () of the whole area from the origin can be given as:

Where, A = total area.

Similarly, if y1, y2 etc. are the y distances of centroids of individual areas from the origin ‘O’, then the y
distance of the centroid () of the whole area from the origin can be given as:
We can also write these as:

If the splitting of areas is done in such a way that there are literally infinite number of small pieces, then
physical summation given by above formulae is impossible. In such cases we use:

Where

Note: The above explained concept for finding centroid of areas can be directly extended to finding
centroids of lines and volumes and composite bodies too.

Problem 1:
Find the C.G of the L-shaped area shown in figure 5.

Figure 5: Diagram for problem 1

Solution:
Select point G as the origin for the problem.
Problem 2:
Find the C.G of the T-shaped area shown in figure 6.

Figure 6: Diagram for problem 2

Solution:
= (0, 8.545) cm with respect to the origin.
Hint: Looking at the symmetry of area about the vertical axis, select the origin as the centre of the bottom
edge so that the Y-axis passes through the centroid. In this way we can avoid the calculations for as it will
now lie on the Y-axis itself, and will be 0. See figure 7.

Figure 7: Smart selection of Y-axis for the problem

Problem 3:
From a rectangular lamina ABCD 10 cm × 12 cm a rectangular hole of 3 cm × 4 cm is cut as shown in
figure 8. Find the C.G of the remainder lamina. Select point D as the origin.

Figure 8: Diagram for problem 3

Solution:
= (4.72, 6.22) cm

Problem 4:
A semi-circular area is removed from the trapezoid as shown in figure 9. Determine the centroid of the
remaining area.

Figure 9: Diagram for problem 4

Solution:
= (123.75, 69.38) mm