CENTER OF GRAVITY LAB HOW TO

But start leaning to the side, andĮverything changes. Gravity is more or less above your feet, your body will always beīalanced and you won't tip over. Point, somewhere in your middle-roughly where your stomach is. Weighing as much as you do and concentrated in an infinitely tiny But it's also a bit like one giant potato, There's another way of thinking about your weight. Your body-and the more likely you are to topple.

The more you lean, the bigger the lever effect at the top of

Work like a lever, making your top half turn and topple about yourĪnkles. You lean over to one side, the 'potatoes' at the top of your body Gravity pulls on the whole sack, but itĪlso acts on each potato separately, pulling each one downward. Imagine your body is not a single, solid mass but a huge sack of Why does gravity make your body tip over? 3) The object's center of gravity is the point where the two lines meet. Draw another line parallel to the string (green). 2) Now pick a different point on the edge and repeat the process. Draw a line parallel to the string (yellow). Hang a plumbline (a weight on a string) from the same point.

CENTER OF GRAVITY LAB HOW TO

Topple something that's close to the ground.Īrtwork: How to find an object's center of gravity: 1) Hang the object from a point on its edge and it will rotate until its center of gravity is directly under that point. It's much easier to make something tall topple over than to The force you use when you push on the handle. Narrower ones because the entire door acts like a lever, multiplying The shorter theĭistance between the force and the pivot point, the harder it is for Now try opening the same door by pushing with one finger near Pivot (like a door on its hinges), that thing will turn instead of Easy, isn't it? When a force pushes something that can freely To see how that works, try opening a door by pushing the handle with oneįinger. Taller you are, the more you'll turn because your whole body isĪcting like a lever, helping the force of gravity to turn you Pulls things downward, but here it's making you turn in a circle! The You might think gravity is something that Not actually moving but turning about your ankles. Where your whole body feels like it's about to topple over. Thinking about center of gravity helps us answer questions like this. So they create more down-force on the left to compensate. The pilot has to adjust the pitch of the rotors 2) A helicopter carrying a side load has its center of gravity shifted to the left, as we look at the picture. 1) This giant C-5 Aircraft is having its center of gravity calculated in a special weight and balance hangar at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Photo: Why does center of gravity matter? If you want to fly an aircraft safely, having a balanced load is important. There's more weight in the top half of your body than in the bottom Object, like your body, the center of gravity is slightly higher than your waist because A simple object like a ball has its center of gravity inĪ very obvious place: right at its center. (the stuff they're made from) is concentrated at a point called their center of Even so, all objects behave as though their mass NotĮverything moves like this when gravity acts on it. Throw a ball in the air and gravity pulls it straight back down.

How does it help to know about center of gravity?.

Why does gravity make your body tip over?.

Photo of Eoreum (also called Jultagi), Korean tightrope dancing, courtesy of United States Army Garrison Public Affairs. She's carrying is just a funny little touch, but it's more important than it looks: it gives the walker an easy way to redistribute her weight and quickly correct any wobbles that could send her to the ground. Photo: A tightrope walker has an instinctive command of physics. If, like them, you understandĪ simple concept called center of gravity, you'll find Instinctively understanding the physics of forces Tiptoeing over the high wire, they often teeterĪnd wobble from side to side just to entertain us, yet they hardlyĮver fall off. Tightrope walkers understand thisīetter than anyone. Sometimes gravity can make things turn and topple over, especially if We think of gravity as a force that pulls things downward (towardĮarth's center), but it doesn't always work like that. What goes up must come down-that's one way of understanding gravity.

Center of gravity lab