Two balls of masses 5 kg and 15kg are separated by a fixed distance of 0.8m. find the position of the centre of mass of system
0.2 m from the 15 kg mass and 0.6m from the 5 kg mass, on a line connecting the two masses. .
Two balls of masses 5 kg and 15 kg are separated by a fixed distance of 0.8. Find the position of the centre of masses of the system
To find the position of the center of mass of a system, you need to consider the masses and their distances from a reference point. The formula for the position of the center of mass is:
x_cm = (m1 * x1 + m2 * x2) / (m1 + m2)
where x_cm is the position of the center of mass, m1 and m2 are the masses of the two objects, and x1 and x2 are their respective distances from the reference point.
In this case, we have two balls with masses of 5 kg and 15 kg, and they are separated by a fixed distance of 0.8 m.
Let's assume that the reference point is chosen such that the position of the center of mass is measured from the lighter ball's location. Therefore, the distance of the lighter ball (5 kg) from the reference point is 0 m, and the distance of the heavier ball (15 kg) from the reference point is 0.8 m.
Plugging these values into the formula, we get:
x_cm = (5 kg * 0 m + 15 kg * 0.8 m) / (5 kg + 15 kg)
Simplifying the equation, we have:
x_cm = (12 kg * 0.8 m) / 20 kg
x_cm = 0.96 m / 20 kg
x_cm = 0.048 m
So, the position of the center of mass of the system is 0.048 m from the lighter ball's location.