Example activity: how to determine the center of mass of a body if the center of mass is outside the body?

Abstract

The centre of mass (CM) is a key concept that facilitates the understanding of various physics topics and the solution of problems. This study’s aim is to present an activity for students to experimentally determine the location of the CM of bodies with a CM outside the body. Thus, an example activity will be presented that will allow students to understand the situation where the CM is outside the body, to find the CM of bodies, and to generate new examples with a CM outside the body themselves. For at-rest bodies, the common experimental technique for finding the CM of the body consists of drawing two vertical gravity lines through the body, and the CM is at the intersection of these lines. In this research, this technique is adapted to cases where the CM is outside the body.