Center of Mass

center of mass

I started reading a very interesting book called “Fight Like A Physicist”, by Jason Thalken, Phd. 

The first chapter is about the center of mass. This is something we usually experience but probably don’t give many thoughts: your center of mass keeps you balanced and stable, as the author says. If you push an object on the side far from center of mass, then it will spin; if you push directly into the center of mass, it will move away directly from that push point.

He also gives some interesting examples to explain this even further. When we walk by the fence and if the fence is higher than our center of mass, we feel safe; if its lower, we can feel unsafe, because if we lean toward the fence, it’s likely that we flip over.

Ahh I wish I knew this interesting book when I was learning Physics back in middle school!

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