- #1
JC2000
- 186
- 16
- Homework Statement
- Find the center of mass for the following object.
- Relevant Equations
- For object positions along the x axis:
$\mathrm{COM}_{x}=\frac{m_{1} \cdot x_{1}+m_{2} \cdot x_{2}+m_{3} \cdot x_{3}+\ldots}{m_{1}+m_{2}+m_{3}+\ldots}$
And similarly for the y axis:
$\mathrm{COM}_{y}=\frac{m_{1} \cdot y_{1}+m_{2} \cdot y_{2}+m_{3} \cdot y_{3}+\ldots}{m_{1}+m_{2}+m_{3}+\ldots}$
I realize that this is to be solved by breaking up the object into simple objects and using their known center of mass to find the center of mass of the entire object.
1. In the solution the circular gap is also considered in the calculations with a negative center of mass, why is this done?
2. Here the entire object is in the first quadrant of the chosen frame of reference and hence the position vectors are positive. Would the position vectors be negative in the formula if the chosen frame of reference were to be in the middle of the object?
Thank you!