Intro to Center of Mass Video Lessons

Concept

# Problem: True or False: There must be equal amounts of mass on both sides of the center of mass of an object? (Hint: Thinking about a situation involving point masses will help you answer this question) and Why is this so?

###### FREE Expert Solution

Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in a substance.

The x-coordinate of the center of mass is given as:

$\overline{){{\mathbf{x}}}_{\mathbf{c}\mathbf{m}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{1}}{\mathbf{x}}_{\mathbf{1}}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{2}}{\mathbf{x}}_{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{n}}{\mathbf{x}}_{\mathbf{n}}}{{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{1}}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{n}}}}$

Y-coordinate of the center of mass:

$\overline{){{\mathbf{Y}}}_{{\mathbf{cm}}}{\mathbf{=}}\frac{{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{1}}{\mathbf{y}}_{\mathbf{1}}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{2}}{\mathbf{y}}_{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{n}}{\mathbf{y}}_{\mathbf{n}}}{{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{1}}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{2}}\mathbf{+}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{.}\mathbf{+}{\mathbf{m}}_{\mathbf{n}}}}$

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###### Problem Details

True or False: There must be equal amounts of mass on both sides of the center of mass of an object? (Hint: Thinking about a situation involving point masses will help you answer this question) and Why is this so?