Centre of Gravity

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Centre of Gravity The Centre of Gravity of an object is the point through all the weight of the object appears to act. Experiment: To find the centre of gravity of a sheet of cardboard/cartridge paper.[15mks] 1. Cut your cardboard or cartridge paper in an irregular shape (even a teddy bear). 2. Hang the lamina from a clamp or end of ruler so that it rotate freely. 3. Hang a play-dough weight from this point using cord so that the weight hangs straight down. 4. Draw a line to represent the position of the cord. Rather than try to draw the lines while the lamina is hanging (which is tricky to do) students could mark two points on the line, and then complete the line when they have removed the lamina. 5. Rotate the sheet of cardboard and repeat. 6. The intersection of the two lines represents the centre of gravity of the object. 7. Now repeat one more time to verify that this line also goes through the same point. INSTRUCTIONS 1. Carry out the experiment and paste result to a folder leaf with Topic Name, Form and Date 2. Data analysis – Define COG and state how this principle applies to your findings. 3. Precautions – state 1 precaution [1] 4. Sources of Error – State 2 sources of error [2] 5. Conclusion -What do you conclude? [2] Skill – Manipulation and Measurement 10mks * Hole placed close to edge of lamina - 3mks * Neat , thin pencil lines drawn – 3mks * Suspension points equally spaced and are half way round – 2mks * Appropriate centre of gravity found at point where all three lines intersected – 2mks ************************************************************************************************** Stability An object can be made more stable by: (i) giving it a low centre of gravity (ii) giving it a wider base An object will topple if a vertical line

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