Chapter Five

CENTROIDS
 Center of Gravity
The line of action of the three bodies are concurrent at a single point G,
which is called center of gravity of the body
 Cont’d
Determining the center of gravity
To determine mathematically the location of the center of gravity of any body
we apply the principle of moments to the parallel system of gravitational
forces.
The moment of the resultant gravitational force W about any axis equals the
sum of the moments about the same axis of gravitational forces dW acting on
all particles treated as infinitesimal elements of the body.
The resultant of gravitational forces given by
The sum of moments given by
 Cont’d
With similar expressions for the other two components, we may express the
coordinates of the center of gravity G as
 Cont’d
By vector form the above equation can be written as
where r= xi+ yj+ zk

The density of a body is its mass per unit volume then

Centroids of Lines, areas, And Volumes
 Cont’d
1. Lines. For a slender rod or wire of length L, cross-sectional area A, and
density ρ, see Fig below, the body approximates a line segment, and
Cont’d
Cont’d
Examples
Cont’d
Cont’d
Cont’d
Centroids of Composite Bodies
 Cont’d

Analogous relations hold for composite lines, areas, and volumes, where the
m’s are replaced by L’s, A’s, and V’s, respectively.
Cont’d
Cont’d