Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Watch Jessica and Anan perform an acrobatic form of ballet. Such feats would be
impossible without a strong understanding of center of mass.
Questions to Consider While Watching the Video
1. How is the woman able to balance on the man?
2. How is her balancing like a seesaw?
3. Where is her center of mass as she balances?
4. What happens when she becomes unbalanced?
5. Why does the man move beneath her?
Digging Deeper_________________________________________________________
Here's a diagram of Jessica and Anan balancing: To stay balanced, as in figure A, both
acrobats must keep their centers of mass— CoM—above their points of support. For
Jessica, the point of support is Anan's head. In Figure B, you can see what happens if her
center of mass is not over Anan's head...she falls! Figure C shows what happens if Anan's
center of mass is no longer over his own point of support, his foot on the ground. If this
happens, both acrobats fall. When the center of mass is not over the point of support, a
torque results. You can think of torque as similar to force, except that instead of causing
linear acceleration, it causes rotational acceleration. In other words, torques cause
objects to turn.
T is the torque, I is the object's moment of inertia, a quantity that incorporates both
mass, and distance from the pivot point. Finally, α is the rotational acceleration that
results from the torque.
The reason Jessica keeps her arms outstretched and leg kicked back is that these
extended limbs act as lever arms, generating balancing torques that keep her from
tipping over. A good way to visualize how this works is to think about a seesaw.
In scenario A, the torque on both sides is mgL, so the people are balanced. In scenario B,
the mass on the left side is the same as the right side but it is at half the distance,
therefore the torque is greater on the right side and it rotates in that direction. In
scenario C, the torque on the left side is 2mgL and mgL on the right. Now the torques
are unbalanced in the opposite direction, so the see saw rotates the other way. In D, the
mass on the left side is again doubled, but is only half as far from the pivot, so the
torque is half that in C, thus the seesaw balances with no rotation.
Jessica and Anan sit on opposite sides of a 3 meter-long seesaw. If Jessica sits on the end
of the seesaw and her mass is 55 kg, where must Anan, whose mass is 70 kg, sit to
perfectly balance Jessica?
Answer
Anan must sit ~1.18 meters from the pivot. Jessica creates a torque of 55kg x 1.5 meters
—half the length of the seesaw. To balance, Anan must create an equivalent torque, but
since he weighs more, he must sit at some distance, d, that is closer than 1.5 meters
from the pivot.)
Setting these two torques equal to each other gives:
Qëndrimi në majë të gishtave është mjaft i vështirë, por imagjinoni të përpiqeni ta bëni
atë duke qëndruar i ekuilibruar mbi kokën e dikujt tjetër. Ose, po aq e vështirë,
imagjinoni të qëndroni në këmbë me dikë që qëndron mbi kokën tuaj. Për të mbajtur
masës dhe forcat e ndryshme - të quajtura çift rrotullues - që mund t'i bëjnë ata të
ekuilibrit.
Shikoni Jessica dhe Anan duke performuar një formë akrobatike të baletit. Bëma të tilla
e tyre të mbështetjes. Për Xhesikën, pika e mbështetjes është koka e Ananit. Në figurën
B, mund të shihni se çfarë ndodh nëse qendra e saj e masës nuk është mbi kokën e
Ananit...ajo bie! Figura C tregon se çfarë ndodh nëse qendra e masës së Ananit nuk
është më mbi pikën e tij të mbështetjes, këmba e tij në tokë. Nëse kjo ndodh, të dy
akrobatët bien. Kur qendra e masës nuk është mbi pikën e mbështetjes, rezulton një çift
vend që të shkaktojë nxitim linear, ai shkakton nxitim rrotullues. Me fjalë të tjera, çift