PHY 101 - MRS.

KAROKATOSE

CENTRE OF MASS

The motion of rotating objects can be complicated , for example,

imagine flipping a baseball bat into the air. It can be quite difficult to
locate the centre of the moving baseball bat. There is however a special
point on the object for which the motion is simple.
The center of mass of the bat traces out a parabola, just as a tossed ball
does (as shown in the figure below). All other points rotate around this
point.

The center of mass (com) of a system of particles is the point that moves
as if all of the system’s mass were concentrated there and all external
forces were applied there. In other words, the centre of mass of a body
or collection of bodies is the mean position of the mass.

For two particles separated by a distance d, where the origin is chosen at

the position of particle 1:

For two particles, for an arbitrary choice of origin:

For a collection of discrete point masses in one dimension, the centre of

mass is defined to be
 ∑ mi x i
i
X com=
∑ mi
i

where the summations are over all of the point masses. This is just the
weighted average of the positions of the masses, where the “weights”
are the masses. Note that the denominator is the total mass of all the
point masses.

In two or three dimensions, we find the center of mass along each axis
separately:

Example1: Suppose there is a mass of 3kg at x = 1m, a mass of 2kg at the

origin and a mass of 4kg at x = 2m, where is the centre of mass?

(3 kg)+(2 kg)(0 m)+(4 kg)(2 m)

X com=
3 kg+2 kg +4 kg

¿ 1.222 m
Example 2: In two dimensions: suppose there is a mass of 3kg at (x,y) =
(1,3)m, a mass of 2kg at the origin and a mass of 4kg at (x,y) = (5, -1),
where is the centre of mass

3(kg)(1 m)+ 2kg (0 m)+(4 kg)(5 m)

X com=
3 kg +2 kg+ 4 kg

¿ 2.556
 (3 kg)(3 m)+(2 kg)(0 m)+(4 kg )(−1 m)
X com=
3 kg+ 2 kg+ 4 kg

¿ 0.556 m

The centre of mass is therefore at ((x com ¿ , ¿ y com )=(2.556 , 0.556)m

To find the centre of mass of a continuous body, we take the limit of an

infinite sum of infinitely small particles.I.e.integration.
Coordinate by coordinate, we write;

Where M is the mass of the object.

Centre of Mass and Newton’s second Law of Motion

Center of mass motion continues unaffected by forces internal to a
system (collisions between billiard balls)

Motion of a system's center of mass:

Where;
Fnet is the sum of all external forces
M is the total, constant, mass of the closed system
acom is the center of mass acceleration
Examples: Using the center of mass motion equation:
 Billiard collision: forces are only internal, F = 0 so a = 0
 Baseball bat: a = g, so com follows gravitational trajectory
 Exploding rocket: explosion forces are internal, so only the
gravitational force acts on the system, and the com follows a
 gravitational trajectory as long as air resistance can be ignored for
the fragments.

ROTATIONAL MOTION
The rotation of a solid body about an axis can be described in a manner
similar to that of linear motion.
First, instead of giving the position of the body along an axis, we specify
its rotation angle θ relative to am agreed zero rotation angle. Then we
define an angular velocity ω in a way similar to the definition of linear
velocity;
dθ
ω=
dt
We also define the angular acceleration α that is analogous to linear
acceleration;
2
dω d θ
α= = 2
dt dt

TRANSLATIONAL VERSUS ROTATIONAL MOTION

There are some important relation between translational and rotational
motion. Recall that the relation between an angle θ in radians and arc
length s is given as;
s=r θ ……………………………………………..(1)
Where the radius of rotation is r. Taking the derivatives of both sides
with respect to time and substituting ds/dt as v and dθ/dt as ω, taking r
as constant, then we have the relation between linear and angular
velocities to be;
v=r ω ……………………………………………………(3)
Since the radius of rotation r is constant, taking derivative with respect
to time again, we get a relation between the linear and angular
acceleration as;
a=r α ...................................(4)

The table below represents the relationship between translational and

rotational quantities;

Translational motion Rotational motion Relationship

Name Symbol Name Symbol

Position x Angle θ θ=s /r
Velocity v Angular ω ω=v t /r
velocity
Acceleration a Angular α α =at /r
acceleration
Mass m Moment of I I =∫ r dm
2

Inertia
Force F Torque Ʈ Ʈ =r × F
Momentum p Angular L L=r ×p
momentum

Example: A body of moment of inertia I= 3.0kgm2 is initially at rest

I.e. not rotating then a torque of 5.0Nm is applied to it for 7.0
seconds. What is the final angular velocity ω of the body.

Ʈ= Iα

ω=αt + ωo

τ
ω=( )t+ω o ¿
I ¿
Substituting the given values, we have;
5.0
( )(7.0)=11.67 rad /sec
3.0

TORQUE
As earlier stated, torque is the rotational counterpart of force. Suppose a
body rotates about an axis and force F is applied at some distance r from
the axis as shown in the figure below, the distance from the rotation to
the point at which the force is applied is called the moment arm. If the
force is applied perpendicular to the moment arm, then the torque is
defined as;
Ʈ = Fr
The S.I unit of torque is Nm.
If the force applied is at some angle θ to the moment arm as shown in
the second figure, then only the component of the force F perpendicular
to the moment arm contributes to the torque. Hence;
Ʈ = Frsinθ

Torque is a vector quantity since it has both magnitude and direction. Its
magnitude is as described above while its direction is perpendicular to
the plane containing the force and the moment arm. Let r be a vector
pointing from the rotation axis to the point at which the force is applied.
Then the torque vector is defined as;
Ʈ=rxF
The direction of Ʈ is given by the right-hand rule: if you curl the finger of
your right hand from r into F, then the thumb of your right hand points
in the direction of Ʈ.

Rotational Version of Hooke’s Law

The rotational version of Hooke’s law is given as;

Ʈ = -kθ
Where k is the spring constant and it is measured in Nm/rad. This
version of Hooke’s law can be applied in torsional pendulum, in which a
mass suspended by a wire is allowed to twist back and forth.
COUPLES
A couple is two forces equal in magnitude and opposite in direction but
which are separated by some distance as shown in the figure below.
Since the two forces are equal and opposite, a couple results in zero net
force on the body. It however results in a torque on the body. If the
forces act along lines separated by a distance l, then the force acting on
the body due to the couple is given by;

Ʈ = Fl

Y
F
l

0
X1 x
X2

The figure above shows a couple; the torque here is;

Fx2-Fx1 = F(X2-X1) = Fl

NEWTONS’S LAWS OF MOTION: ROTATIONAL VERSION

The rotational version of the Newton’s laws of motion are;

1. Law of Rotational Inertia. A body at rest (non-rotating) will remain at

rest, and a body rotating with constant angular velocity will continue
rotating with that same angular velocity, unless acted upon by
some outside torque.
2.Ʈ = Iα: If a torque Ʈ is applied to a body of moment of inertia I , it will
accelerate with angular acceleration; α = Ʈ/I

3. Torques always come in pairs that act in opposite directions. If body 1

acts on body 2 with a torque , Ʈ then body 2 will act back on body 1 with
torque Ʈ (equal in magnitude and opposite in direction).
 First Law of Rotational Motion
The rotational form of Newton’s first law states that bodies have a
property called rotational inertia, which means that once given an initial
angular velocity, they will continue spinning with that same angular
velocity forever, unless acted upon by some outside torque. Nobody
knows why this is; just like with linear inertia, it’s just the way the
Universe works.

Second Law of Rotational Motion

The rotational form of Newton’s second law of motion states that the
torque Ʈ on a body is proportional to its resulting angular acceleration;
Ʈ = Iα

When a torque is applied to a body, its spinning will accelerate with

angular acceleration, α = Ʈ/I - the larger the moment of inertia, the
smaller the angular acceleration.
If the torque is a function of angle, and using acceleration, α = d2 θ/dt2,
this becomes a differential equation;
2
d θ
τ (θ)=I 2
dt
Solving this differential equation for θ(t) gives a complete description of
the rotational motion.

The most general form of Newton’s second law is not Ʈ = Iα, but Ʈ
=dL/dt,where L is the angular momentum. This reduces to Ʈ = Iα
when the moment of inertia is constant.
The rotational form of Newton’s second law may also be expressed in
vector form:
Ʈ = Iα

where α is the angular acceleration vector, which lies along the axis of
rotation.

Third Law of Rotational Motion

The rotational form of Newton’s third law of motion states that torques
always come in pairs that act in opposite directions. For example,
imagine an astronaut floating in space next to a space capsule. He has
a wrench in his hand, and wishes to tighten a bolt on the spacecraft. But
if he uses the wrench to turn the bolt clockwise, the bolt will, in turn,
apply a torque back on him, and the astronaut will rotate himself
counterclockwise. To avoid this, the astronaut can anchor his feet to the
space capsule. The same thing will still happen, but this time the
astronaut and the capsule will rotate counterclockwise. Since the
capsule’s moment of inertia is so large, the angular acceleration of the
capsule, α = Ʈ/l will be very small.
The rotational form of Newton’s third law may be used to advantage in
controlling spacecraft attitude (orientation). Spacecraft contain a set of
spinning wheels called reaction wheels. By applying a torque to one
of these wheels, the spacecraft can be rotated in the opposite direction.

ANGULAR MOMENTUM
The rotational version of momentum is called angular momentum. Just
as linear momentum is defined as the product of mass and velocity
(p=mv), angular momentum, L is defined as the product of moment of
inertia and angular velocity; I.e.
L=Iω
Angular momentum is also a vector quantity and it is measured in
kgm2/s or Nms.

Angular momentum is related to linear momentum according to the

equation;
L=rxp
Taking the derivative of the equation, we have;
dL dp
=r ×
dt dt
The right hand side is the torque. The result is the rotational form of
Newton’s second law;
dL
τ=
dt
Where Ʈ is the torque and L is the angular momentum.

VECTOR PRODUCT
The vector product (also known as cross product) of two vectors is
defined as;
⃗
A×⃗
B= ABsinθ n^
Where n^ is a unit vector that is perpendicular to both ⃗A and ⃗B.
Applying this definition to unit vectors in 3-dimensions gives i x j =k, k x i
= j, j x k = i
Some of the key properties of the cross product are;
1. It is not commutative I.e.
⃗
A×⃗
B=− ⃗
B×⃗
A
2. ⃗A × ⃗
A =0
3. Orthogonality: if two vectors are parallel or anti-parallel, their cross
product is zero. For example, for the cartesian unit vectors;
ixi=jxj=kxk=o

Also, the products of any two different cartesian unit vectors permute cyclically:
i x j =k ; j x i = -k
J x k =I ; k x j = -I
K x i = j ; i x k =-j

4. (⃗
A+ ⃗
B )× ⃗
C =( ⃗A×⃗
B )+( ⃗
A×⃗
C)
5. Non associativity; I.e.
(⃗
A×⃗ B )× ⃗C≠⃗ A ׿)
But (⃗
A×⃗ B )× ⃗C =B (A .C )− A (B .C )
And ¿
i j k
⃗ ⃗
6. A × B= A x Ay A z=( A y Bz − A z B y )i+( A z Bx − A x B z) j+(A x B y − A y B x )k
Bx By Bz

Note that the vector product is only definable in three dimensions and
has no meaning in two dimensions. This is unlike the dot product whuch
has a meaning in any number of dimensions.