- #1
omin
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From experiment, it's easy to see that if we balance an industrial sized broom with one finger at it's center of gravity that it remains even with the horizon. It appears parallel with the horizon.
If its sawed in half at it's center of gravity, the broom end weighs more than the broom handle end.
The reason stated in my physics book is that the broom is even with the horizon is not because of weight, but because of torque.
At first I thought the center of gravity would have to be the spot where mass was on equal sides of the spot where I balance the broom even with the horizontal axis. This would be center of mass, right?
Obviously, the midpoint of the mass of the broom is not the center of gravity. What is gravity doing internally to the mass of the broom when it creates what is called torque?
If its sawed in half at it's center of gravity, the broom end weighs more than the broom handle end.
The reason stated in my physics book is that the broom is even with the horizon is not because of weight, but because of torque.
At first I thought the center of gravity would have to be the spot where mass was on equal sides of the spot where I balance the broom even with the horizontal axis. This would be center of mass, right?
Obviously, the midpoint of the mass of the broom is not the center of gravity. What is gravity doing internally to the mass of the broom when it creates what is called torque?