Chapter 7 Systems of partic

les
7-1 The motion of a complex object


7-2 Two-particle system
7-3 Many-particle system
7-4 Center of mass of solid objects
7-5 Conservation of momentum in a
system of particles
7-1 The motion of a complex object
When we projectile a rigid body, the moti
on of the body looks very complicated.
We can consider the motion of the rigid b
ody to be a combination of a parabolic traj
ectory of a “center of mass” (rotational mo
tion is not considered) plus a rotation abo
ut “center of mass” (translational motion is
not considered).

How to find the center of mass (CM) of

a particle system?
7-2 Two-particle system
Do an experiment to find CM in a two-particle
system.
As an example, we consider a baton consists
of two particles m1 , m2 at its ends A and B,
connected by a thin rigid rod of fixed length an
d negligible mass.

A m
1
m2  2m1
B
m2
We give the rod a push along the frictionless
horizontal surface and examine its motion.

Snapshots of the locations of points A and

B at successive intervals of time.

Clearly both m1 and m2 are accelerated, however,

one point in the rod (point C) moves with constant
velocity.
If point c is regarded as a reference, A and B
points rotate with a constant rotational speed.

View the motion

from the reference
of point C.

So point c is actually the center of mass.

 Fig 7-5
By building a Cartesian
coordinate, position of y
point c is found at : m1
 
 m1r1  m2 r2 C C’
rcm  (7-1) 
r1   '
rcm
m1  m2 rcm

r2 m2
or written as:
x
O


m1 x1  m2 x 2
xcm 
m1  m2 A m
(7-2) 1

m1 y1  m2 y 2 C
y cm  B
m1  m2 m2
From Eq. (7-1), the velocity and acceleration of t
he CM are:
  
 d rcm m1 v1  m2 v 2
v cm   (7-4)
dt m1  m2
  
 d vcm m1 a1  m2 a 2
a cm   (7-6)
dt m1  m2

Can we also find acm is zero from Eq. (7-6)?
     
m1 a1  m2 a2  F1r  F2 r F2 r   F1r

ac  0
 How about the motion if the system has net
external forces?
Suppose there is an external force on each
particle in above expt., then
       
m1 a1  m2 a 2   F1   F2  F1ext  F1r  F2 ext  F2 r
    
F1r  F2 r  0, and if write  F1ext   F2 ext   Fext
  
 m1a1  m2 a2 
m1a1  m2 a2   Fext
 
 acm  
 m1  m2 
  Newton’s second law for
F ext  (m1  m2 ) acm systems of particles
This looks very like a particle of mass m1  m2 located
at the center of mass.
7-3 Many-particle system
Consider a system consisting of N particle
s of masses ……m1 m2 . Themtotal
N mass is
(7-10)
M  m
Each particle can be represented
n by its loca
tion , velocity and its acceleration . 
 
rn vn an
The CM of the system can be defined by
logical extension of Eq(7-1):
   
 m1 r1  m2 r2        mN rN 1 
rcm 
m1  m2        mN

M
 mn rn (7-11)

In terms of components, Eq(7-11) can be wr

itten as (7-12)
1 1 1
x cm 
M
 mn xn , ycm 
M
 n n , z cm 
m y m n zn .
M
Taking the derivative of Eq(7-11)
 1 
v cm 
M
m n vn (7-13)
Differentiating once again:
 1 
(7-14)
a cm 
M
 mn a n
    
Or M a cm   mn a n   F1   F2         FN (7-15)
By Newton’s third law, in Eq(7-15) the vector su
m of all the internal forces is cancelled, and Eq
(7-15) reduces to


Fext  Macm (7-16)

Eq(7-16) is just the Newton’s second law for the

system of N particles treated as a single particle

 at the center of mass( rcm),
of mass M located
experiencing acm.

 1 
rcm 
M
 mn rn
 1 
a cm 
M
m n an
 We can summarize this important result
as follow:
“The overall translational motion of a sys
tem of particles can be analyze using Newt
on’s law as if the mass were concentrated
at the center of mass and the total extern
al force were applied at that point.”
These are general results that apply equ
ally well to a solid object.
Sample problem 7-3
A projectile of mass 9.8kg is launched from the
ground with initial velocity of 12.4m/s at an angle
of above the54horizontal (Fig 7-11). At some ti
me after its launch, an explosion splits the projec
tile into two pieces. One piece of mass 6.5kg, is o
bserved at 1.42s after the launch at a height of 5.
9m and a horizontal distance of 13.6m from the l
aunch point. Find the location of the second frag
ment at that same time.


v0 m
CM 1

 m2
0
Solution:
If the projectile had not exploded, the loca
tion of the projectile at t=1.42s should ha
ve been
x  v0 x t  (7.3m / s )  1.42 s  10.4m
1 2
y  v0 y t  gt
2
1
 (10.0m / s )  (1.42 s )  (9.80m / s 2 )  (1.42 s) 2
2
 4.3m
It is the location of the CM.
? ?
m1 x1  m2 x 2 m1 y1  m2 y 2
xcm  y cm 
m1  m2 m1  m2
By Eq(7-12)
Mx cm  m1 x1
x2  Fig 7-11
m2
(9.6kg )  (10.4m)  (6.5kg )  (13.6m)

3.1kg
 3.7 m  m
v0 Cm 1

My cm  m1 y1 0  m2
y2   0.9m
m2
7-4 Center of mass of solid objects
1) If an object has symmetry, the CM must lie at th
e geometrical symmetrical center of the object. Sup
pose the mass is uniformly distributed.

cm
cm  

2) If the object has no symmetry, sometimes it is

also easy to find its cm position:

cm 
(a) (b)
Sample problem 7-4
Fig 7-13 shows a circular
Fig metal
7-13 plate of rad
ius 2R from which a disk of radiusy R has b
een removed. Find the cm (x) of the plate.

R
D C x
x
Solution:
Due to the mirror symmetry about the x axis
, the cm must lie along the x axis.
If the hole is filled with a disk of the same m
aterial of radius R, the cm of composite disk i
s at the origin of the coordinate system.
?
mD x D  m x x x CM for the big
xc  0 
mD  m x circular plate
mD  R 2 1
x x  ( ) xD   ( R)  R
mx  (2 R )  R
2 2
3
3) If we encounter solid irregular objects, we
can divide infinite small elements. And the
sums of Eqs(7-12) transform into integrals:
x
z
O
y
1 1
xcm  lim  x n mn   xdm
M m  0 M
1 1
y cm  lim  y n mn   ydm
M m0 M (7-18)
1 1
z cm  lim  z n mn   zdm
M m0 M
In vector form are
 1 
rcm 
M  r dm (7-19)
Sample problem 7-5
Fig 7-14
A thin strip of material is benty into the sh
ape of a semicircle of radius R. Find its cen
ter of mass.

M
 y cm dm  d



0 x
Solution:
The strip has symmetry about the y axis. S
o xc  0

1 1 M
ycm 
M  ydm  M 0 R sin   d

R 2R
  sin d   0.637 R
 0 
( the small element of mass dm subtends a
n angle d. The location of the dm is
y  R) sin 
7-5 Conservation of momentum in a sy
stem of particles
1) For a system containing  N particles, th
e total momentum P is  ( M   mi )
 N  N N
mn vn
P   Pn   mn vn M 
  (7-21)
Mvcm
n 1 n 1 n 1 M

Here  
dP dvcm 
 Macm   Fext

M (7-22)
dt dt
If the net external force
 acting on a syste
m is zero, then dP and so the total li
 0
near momentum dt
of the
P system remain
s constant.
2) If we view the system from the cm frame,
the velocity vn ' of a particle in this frame is
  
vn '  (vn  vcm ) (7-24)

Then in this cm frame, the total momentum is

 N N N
P'   mn vn '   mn vn   mn vcm (7-25)
  
n 1 n 1 n 1
 
 Mvcm  Mvcm  0
Sample problem 7-8
As Fig 7-17 shows a cannon whose mass
M is 1300kg fire a 72kg ball in a horizontal
direction with a speed vbc of 55m/s relative
to the cannon. The cannon is mounted and
can recoil freely.
(a) what is the velocity vcE of the recoiling
cannon with respected to the Earth?
(b) what is the initial velocity vbE of the bal
l with respected to the Earth?

M m
vbc
vcE
Fig 7-17
Solution:
Momentum in horizontal direction is conserved.
 
Pix  Pfx  0


Pf  MvcE  mvbE  0
vbc  vbE  vcE


M m
vbc
vcE
Fig 7-17