SCIENCE 10

QUARTER 2

BALANCE, STABILITY, CENTER OF

MASS, CENTER OF GRAVITY
• What is the center of mass?
• The center of mass is a position
defined relative to an object or
system of objects. It is the
average position of all the parts of
the system, weighted according to
their masses.

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• For simple rigid objects with
uniform density, the center of
mass is located at the centroid.
For example, the center of mass
of a uniform disc shape would be
at its center. Sometimes the
center of mass doesn't fall
anywhere on the object.
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• What is useful about the center of
mass?
• The interesting thing about the center of
mass of an object or system is that it is
the point where any uniform force on
the object acts. This is useful 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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• What is the center of gravity?
• The center of gravity is the point
through which the force of gravity
acts on an object or system. In
most mechanics problems the
gravitational field is assumed to
be uniform.

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• The center of gravity is then in
exactly the same position as
the center of mass. The terms
center of gravity and center of
mass tend to often be used
interchangeably since they are
often at the same location.

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STABILITY

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 STABILITY

• There are three types of equilibrium:

Stable, Unstable, Neutral.
• A BODY with large flat base and low
center of gravity will be very stable.
• However, a body with a small base
and high center of gravity will tend to
topple if slightly disturbed.

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• If a cone lying on its side displaced,it does
not returned to its equilibrium position but
instead assumes a new position of
equilibrium.
• In general, an object will be stable if a
plumb line drawn from its center of
gravity falls within its base.

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• A 59 kg woman and a 71 kg,
man sit on a seesaw 3.5 m
long. where is the center of
mass located?

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• A person is standing
on the very end of a
2 m long board that is
level and balanced.
The balance point is
0.20 m from the end
the person is on. The
board has a mass of
20 kg. a) What is the
mass and weight of
the person?

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• A father and his young son get on
a teeter-totter. The son sits 2 m
from the center, but the father has
to sit closer to balance. Where
does the father have to sit to
balance the teeter-totter if he
weighs 4 times as much as his
son?
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• The positions of masses 4 kg., 6kg ,7 kg,
10 kg are (0,0), (4,0) ,(0,5) , (5,6)
respectively. Determine the position of the
center of mass of the system.

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• Four objects are situated along the
y-axis as follows: a 2 kg object is
at +3m, a 3 kg object is at +2.5m,
a 2.5 kg object is at the origin, and
a 4kg object is at-0.5m. Where is
the center of mass of these object?

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• A metallic sphere of mass 1 kg. and a
radius of 5 cm. is welded to the end of a
thin rod AB of a length of 50 cm and a
mass of 0.5 kg. Locate the center of mass
of metallic sphere and the rod
• 3 point masses are attached to a rigid rod
m1= 2 kg. located at 1m rod, 1 kg at 2m,
0.5 kg at .5 m. find the center of mass

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 `
• Find the center of
gravity of a flat piece
of wood shaped in
the form of letter L.
The weight per
square meter of the
wood is 2.4 N/m2.
Find the center of
gravity of the piece
of wood.

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• An object weighing 120 N is act on
rigid beam of negligible mass at a
distance of -3 m from a pivot. A
vertical force is to be applied to the
other end of the beam at a distance
of 4 m. What is the magnitude of the
force required?

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• To weigh a fish, a person hangs a tackle
box of mass 3.5 kg.and a cooler of mass 5
kg. from the ends of a uniform rigid pole
that is suspended.The system balances
when the fish hangs at a point ¼ of the
rod’s length from the tackle box. What is
the mass of the fish?

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• A large piston in a Hydraulic lift system
has a radius of 20 cm. What force must be
applied to the small piston of radius
2.0cm. To raise a car of mass 1500
kg.How much work is required to lift a car
in a height of 0.30 m?

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• A downward force of 100 N is applied to
the small piston with a diameter of 50 cm.
In the hydraulic lift system. What is the
upward force exerted by the large piston
with a diameter of 2m? What is the
mechanical advantage of the hydraulic lift?
If the input force of 100 N pushes the
small piston down by 2m, how high will
the large piston will rise?

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• A 1500 kg. car is placed on the large piston
with a radius of 4 m. What is the minimum
upward force that the large piston must
exert to lift the car? If the mechanical
advantage of the hydraulic lift system is 20,
what is the minimum downward force that
should be applied to lift the car ? What is the
radius of the small piston? What is the
pressure exerted on the large piston? How
far should the small piston descend in order
to lift the car by 2m.
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References:
• Tom Hsu, Ph.D., cpoScience Foundation of
Physics.2nd Edition

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THANK YOU!