Center of mass.
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TabithaCook
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Center of mass.
My son done a science project on the center of mass. He took 3 water bottles, stacked them in a pyramid and threw a tennis bottle at the 10 times with all bottles full, top bottle full with bottom bottles empty, and bottom bottles full with top bottle empty. His hypothesis was that more bottles would fall when the bottom bottles were empty and the top bottle was full because it would take less force to knock the bottom bottles over and the top would fall due to gravity and being more heavy, which was correct. However he does not know how to answer the question of if you change the mass of in an object, how will that change the center of mass and I am no science expert. Help?
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AeroSE
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Re: Center of mass.
Hi Tabitha,
Sounds like your son probably had a lot of fun with this experiment.
To help with your question, we should define what is the center of mass.
The center of mass of an object can be thought of as the point at which the object would balance on a single point. The bottle can be balanced on a single on its end (standing up normally) and it can be balanced on its side at a single point. The intersection of this point is the center of mass for the bottle.
If we start with an empty bottle, the center of mass should be somewhere in the middle of the bottle. If we add mass (such as water) into the bottle, the center mass will move due to weight of the water, but how much it moves depends on how much water is added. This is because the water will fill from the bottom up. Making the center of mass first lower, then begin to raise again as the bottle is filled. Thus, the center of mass will move in the direction of the added mass. How much the center of mass moves, is determined by how much mass is added.
Hope this helps. Please respond with any further questions,
AeroSE
Sounds like your son probably had a lot of fun with this experiment.
To help with your question, we should define what is the center of mass.
The center of mass of an object can be thought of as the point at which the object would balance on a single point. The bottle can be balanced on a single on its end (standing up normally) and it can be balanced on its side at a single point. The intersection of this point is the center of mass for the bottle.
If we start with an empty bottle, the center of mass should be somewhere in the middle of the bottle. If we add mass (such as water) into the bottle, the center mass will move due to weight of the water, but how much it moves depends on how much water is added. This is because the water will fill from the bottom up. Making the center of mass first lower, then begin to raise again as the bottle is filled. Thus, the center of mass will move in the direction of the added mass. How much the center of mass moves, is determined by how much mass is added.
Hope this helps. Please respond with any further questions,
AeroSE