Math 2400 Project #3 - Center of Mass Spring 2016

We need some more Math Department decorations, so we’re going to build a mobile that demon-
strates our mastery of the concept of the center of mass of an two dimensional object. Yay!
This is going to be a collective big group effort, since we will have a single final product, but
everyone will contribute a shape to hang from the mobile and submit an individual write-up.

The basic process will be:

(1) Design and build a cool shape.
(2) Surround that shape with card-stock and/or pretty paper to keep it all together.
(3) Find the center of mass of that object.
(4) Test it and make sure it is reasonable.
(5) Clearly mark the coordinates on the object itself as well as the total mass.
(6) Attach a string to the object at the center of mass so that it will hang from the string
level with the floor.
(7) Hang your object from the mobile in a way that keeps the entire mobile balanced.

The only current rule (I may come up with more) is:

The density of your final object should not be uniform. So, use multiple plastic
or felt shapes and/or add an extra shape to the card-stock cover.

The write-up you submit on Blackboard should include

• A diagram of the complete shape and all the specifications,
• The steps to compute the center of mass,
• An explanation of the computation and derivation of any new formulas, and
• A summary of any collaboration and computations needed to hang the final object and
keep the whole system balanced.
The Shape: For my shape I chose a plastic square and a third of a circular disk. I extended the
card stock outer layer to include the triangle on the left side of the diagram above. I measured
the side of the square as well as the radius of the circle to be approximately 10cm. After a bit
of thinking, I chose to put the the origin at the lower left corner of the square to be the origin
of the coordinate plane.
y

(xl , y l )
•

(xse , y se )
•
•
(xr , y r )

(xo , y o )
• x
(xtri , y tri ) •

(x, y)
•

xsq , y sq
•

The points and dotted lines are various centers of mass and lines of symmetry that will be
discussed further as we compute things.
The Masses: The mass of the entire square is 28 g and the circular sector has a mass of 9 g.
To compute the mass of the card-stock outer layers, I used the scale to determine the mass of a
complete file folder, which was 22 grams, and measured the dimensions of the folder to get the
area of 1323 cm2 . I computed the area of my entire shape:
A = Asq + Ase + Atri
1 1
= s2 + πr2 + bh
3 2
1 1
= (10)(10) + π(10)2 + (10)(5)
3 2
100π
= 100 + + 25
3
375 + 100π
=
3
≈ 230 cm2 .
My finished shape is made of two of these pieces of exactly the same dimensions, so the total
area of card stock that I have is about 460 cm2 . Since the total amount of card stock was 1323
cm2 , and I used 460 cm2 , the mass for both pieces is
22 g 2


m= 460 cm ≈ 8 g.
1323 cm2
Since each shape has uniform density on its own, we can temporarily ignore the masses of each
shape while we determine their respective centers of mass.

The Individual Centers of Mass: Since the square has a bunch of symmetries, it is the
easiest to find its center of mass; it is the center of the square! With this assignment of the
coordinate axes, that means the center of mass of the square is at


xsq , y sq = (5, −5).
The center of mass of of the triangle part requires a bit more computational work, but we can
use the fact we discovered in #4 and #5 of the Center of Mass worksheet; the center of mass
of a triangle of uniform density is the same as the center of mass of the system of three equal
point masses at the vertices.
 
v1x + v2x + v3x v1y + v2y + v3y
(xtri , y tri ) = ,
3 3
√ !
−5 + 0 + 0 5 3 + 0 + (−10)
= ,
3 3
√ !
5 5 3 − 10
= − , .
3 3

The center of mass of the last piece, the circular sector, is the most difficult. There is likely a
clever symmetry argument to be made, but we can also just use the formulas developed in class.
We’ll need two separate integral calculations, since the lower √
boundary is given by two different
lines, the x-axis for the right portion and the function y = − 3x for the left portion. The right
portion is easier; because of symmetry the center of mass should lie on the line y = x, so we
need only fine one coordinate. The two integrals we would need to compute are
Z 10 √  Z 10 √
1 2
2
2

100 − x − (0) dx and x 100 − x2 − 0 dx.
0 2 0
The second of these integrals requires substitution, so we’ll evaluate the first:

10 √ 10
Z   Z
1 2
2 1
100 − x2 − (0) dx = 100 − x2 dx
0 2 2 0
10
x3

1
= 100x −
2 3 0
  
1 1000
= 100(10) − − (0)
2 3
1000
= .
3

This is the numerator of the x-coordinate of the center of mass, and the denominator is simply
the area of this portion of the shape, 14 πr2 = 25π. So the coordinates of the center of mass of
the right portion of the sector are

   
1000/3 1000/3 40 40
(xr , y r ) = , = , .
25π 25π 3π 3π

Now for the left portion. The denominator in each computation will be the area of the shape,
1
12
πr2 = 25π
3
. We’ll multiply each of the necessary integrals by the reciprocal of this.

3
Z 0 √  √  3
Z 0
1

√ 2  √ 2 
xl = x 100 − − − 3x x2
dx yl = 100 − x2 − − 3x dx
25π−5 25π −5 2
Z 0 √ √ Z Z 0
3 3 3 0 2 3
= 2
x 100 − x dx + x dx = 100 − x2 − 3x2 dx
25π −5 25π −5 50π −5
2 Z 0
u = 100 − x du = −2x dx 3
= 100 − 4x2 dx
x = 0 → u = 100 50π −5
 0
x = −5 → u = 75 3 4 3
√  0 = 100x − x
3
Z 100
√ du 3 3 x3 50π 3 −5
= x u + 3
 
4

25π 75 −2x 25π 3 −5 = (0) − 100(−5) − (−5)3
 3/2 100 √ 50π 3
3 u 3 3
0 − (−5)3

=− +
 
3 4(125)
50π 3/2 75 25π =− −500 +
√ 50π 3
1  3/2 3/2
 5 3
20
=− 100 − 75 + =
25π π√ π
1 h √ i 5 3
=− 1000 − 375 3 +
25π
√ √ π
375 3 − 1000 + 125 3
=
25π
20 √ 
= 3−2
π
Now that we have the center of mass for each portion of the sector, we can treat those portions
as point masses and find the center of mass of the system of two points.
 
xr mr + xl ml y r mr + y l ml
(xse , y se ) = ,
mr + ml mr + ml
40
√
25π 20
!
+ 25π 20 40




25π 3π 3 π
3 − 2 25π 3π
+ 3 π
= 25π ,
25π + 3 25π + 25π
3
√ !
1000 500 3 1000 1000 500
3
+ 3 − 3 +
= 100π , 3 100π 3
3 3
√ !
5 3 15
= ,
π π
√
As a sanity check of sorts, if we take the x-coordinate and multiply
√ by 3, we get the y-
coordinate. That means this center of mass lies on the line y = 3x, which is exactly what we
want since that is a line of symmetry of the sector.

Now that we have the center of mass of the square, triangle, and sector, we can treat each of
those as point masses in order to find the center of mass of the outer layers of card stock. Since
the card stock has uniform mass density, we compute this weighted average using area.

xsq Asq + xtri Atri + xse Ase y sq Asq + y tri Atri + y se Ase

(xo , y o ) = ,
Asq + Atri + Ase Asq + Atri + Ase
  √   √ 
100π

5 5 3 100π 5 3−10 15



(5)(100) + − 3 (25) + π 3
(−5)(100) + 3
(25) + π 3
= 100π , 100π

100 + 25 + 3 100 + 25 + 3
√ √ !
500 − 125
3
+ 5003 3 −500 + 1253 3 − 250 3
+ 500
= ,
125 + 100π
3
125 + 100π 3
√ √ !
1500 − 125 + 500 3 −1500 + 125 3 − 250 + 1500
= ,
375 + 100π 375 + 100π
√ √ !
1375 + 500 3 125 3 − 250
= ,
375 + 100π 375 + 100π
√ √ !
55 + 20 3 5 3 − 10
= ,
15 + 4π 15 + 4π

All together for the center of mass of the entire shape:


xsq msq + xse mse + xo mo y sq msq + y se mse + y o mo

(x, y) = ,
msq + mse + mo msq + mse + mo
  √   √   √  
(5)(28) + 5 π 3 (9) + 55+20 3 15 5 3−10


15+4π
(8) (−5)(28) + π
(9) + 15+4π
(8)
= , 
28 + 9 + 8 28 + 9 + 8
√ √ √ !
140 + 45π 3 + 440+160
15+4π
3
−140 + 135
π
+ 40 3−80
15+4π
= ,
45 45
≈ (4.25, −2.16)
All of the different centers of mass are marked on the diagram, and visually they make sense.
The shape is flat when hung from the center of mass, so that is also a good sign.
I have not hung up my shape yet as part of the mobile. Since there is already a shape at the
center of the mobile, I’ll need a friend or two and their shapes to keep it balanced.
Since we will all know the total masses of our shapes, we can set up the following equation:
 
x1 m1 + x2 m2 + x3 m3 y1 m1 + y2 m2 + y3 m3
, = (0, 0)
m1 + m2 + m3 m1 + m2 + m3
where (xi , yi ) will be the coordinates where we hang our shapes, and mi are the masses of each
shape. The expression on the left represents the center of mass of the system of our three shapes,
and we want that to be the center of the mobile, so we set it equal to (0, 0). This is a system
of two equations (one for each of the x and y-coordinates) with three unknowns in each. That
means there will be multiple solutions. I would propose starting by determining two possible
points roughly at the vertices of an equilateral-ish triangle centered at the origin, then solving
the equations for the third point. Hopefully starting with those two points does not make either
equation have no solution, but if it does, we can adjust!