Center of Mass

Presented by:
Group 3
Presented to:
Dr. Sarmad Masood Shaheen

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 Definition
• A point representing the mean position of the
matter in a body or system.

• Average position of all the parts of the

system, weighted according to their masses

• A point at which the whole of the mass of the

body or all the masses of a system of particle
appeared to be concentrated.
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 Group Members
Name Roll No.
Sidra Muqadas 63
Tehreem Asif 64
Um_ul_Khair Fatima 65
Momina Ashraf 66
Eman Faiz 70
Anam Abass 99
Azka Younas 91
Rabiya Talib 106
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 Examples

• Binary stars

• Seesaw

• Irregular boday

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 Center of Mass of Binary Stars
Suppose the two stars have
masses M1 and M2

• Let r1 = distance between star 1 and COM.

• Let r2 = distance between star 2 and COM.
• The Centre-Of-Mass Formula is r1M1 = r2M2

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• The center of mass is always closer to the
heavier star.
• This is just like two kids playing on a teeter-
totter. The heavier child must sit closer to the
pivot point than the lighter child

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• COM is invisible, but its position if the total distance
between the two stars r = r1 + r2 has been measured
is r1 = r M2/(M1+M2)

• A special case is for circular orbits. Each star is always at

the same distance (equal the radii a1 and a2 of the orbits)
from COM, so
a1M1 = a2M2.

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 Irregular Body
• if you hang a shape from two different points
(one at a time) and draw a line straight down
from each point, the center of mass is where
those lines intersect.

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 Applications
• useful for reference point for calculations in
mechanics that involve masses distributed in space.

• allows you to analyze dynamics problems based on

the motion of the center of mass.

(e.g) if a hammer is thrown in the air, its center of

mass will follow a parabolic path. It's the same as
if a particle were thrown in the air.
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Why we find the center of mass of
any body?

• We find because, It makes it easy to solve

mechanics problems where we have to
describe the motion of oddly-shaped objects
and complicated systems.

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 Can a body shift its center of
mass?

• Center of mass can only change its position when

there is some force applied to it.

• In case of change of center of mass, only the initial

and the final position is considered. But, the
individual center of mass depends on the
magnitude and direction of the force applied.
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