Saturday, February 28, 2009

center of gravity in pendulum bob

Well, for this question,i did some research but it was futile in the end but i got a rough idea where the gravity is through the pictures i came across.The gravity in the pendulum is located in the middle of the bob. The reason should be that if the gravity is located in the middle of the bob, there would be equal amount of gravitational force acting on it.

As you can see from this animation, the velocity [V] and the acceleration vectors [A] is all acting on the middle of the pendulum.So as to conclude, the location of the gravity of the pendulum is in the middle of the bob.

Another question that was asked was where is the center of gravity when the plasticine is placed on top of it or wrapped around it.The center of gravity in this case is still the same as the pendulum did not changed but only one variable is added which is the plasticine.The center of gravity would still be the same apart from the amount of gravity as it would be heavier and thus, maybe more gravity acting/applied on it.