Lecture

Center of Mass: Calculations and Applications

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In course

PHYS-101(g): General physics : mechanics

Le but du cours de physique générale est de donner à l'étudiant les notions de base nécessaires à la compréhension des phénomènes physiques. L'objectif est atteint lorsque l'étudiant est capable de prévoir quantitativement les conséquences de ces phénomène ...

Description

This lecture covers the calculation of the center of mass in various scenarios, including systems with multiple objects and different shapes. It also explores the concept of reference frames and their impact on the center of mass. Additionally, it delves into Newton's laws of motion, focusing on the law of inertia, action, and reaction, and the center of mass theorem.

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Instructor

Jean-Philippe Brantut

I did my PhD at the Institut d'Optique under the direction of Philippe Bouyer and Alain Aspect, before moving to ETHZ in the group of Tilman Esslinger, first as a post-doc then as a senior scientist. There I developed in particular the method allowing for a quantum simulation of nano-electronic devices with ultracold quantum gases.Since september 2016, I hold the Fondation Sandoz chair in physics of quantum gases at EPFL. There, my group has developed the first cold atoms machine combining Fermi gases with cavity-quantum electrodynamics. We use it to explore new ways of measuring and manipulating quantum matter.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Mechanics: Classical mechanics

Related concepts (32)

Newton's laws of motion

Newton's laws of motion are three basic laws of classical mechanics that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting on it. These laws can be paraphrased as follows: A body remains at rest, or in motion at a constant speed in a straight line, unless acted upon by a force. When a body is acted upon by a force, the time rate of change of its momentum equals the force. If two bodies exert forces on each other, these forces have the same magnitude but opposite directions.

Classical mechanics

Classical mechanics is a physical theory describing the motion of macroscopic objects, from projectiles to parts of machinery and astronomical objects, such as spacecraft, planets, stars, and galaxies. For objects governed by classical mechanics, if the present state is known, it is possible to predict how it will move in the future (determinism), and how it has moved in the past (reversibility). The "classical" in "classical mechanics" does not refer classical antiquity, as it might in, say, classical architecture.

Inertia

Inertia is the idea that an object will continue its current motion until some force causes its speed or direction to change. The term is properly understood as shorthand for "the principle of inertia" as described by Newton in his first law of motion. After some other definitions, Newton states in his first law of motion: LAW I. Every object perseveres in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a right line, unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed thereon.

Newton's law of universal gravitation

Newton's law of universal gravitation is usually stated as that every particle attracts every other particle in the universe with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between their centers. The publication of the law has become known as the "first great unification", as it marked the unification of the previously described phenomena of gravity on Earth with known astronomical behaviors.

Newton's cannonball

Newton's cannonball was a thought experiment Isaac Newton used to hypothesize that the force of gravity was universal, and it was the key force for planetary motion. It appeared in his posthumously published 1728 work De mundi systemate (also published in English as A Treatise of the System of the World). Newton's original plan for Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica was that it should consist of two books, the first analyzing basic laws of motion, and the second applying them to the Solar System.

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