Faculty of Engineering and

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STATICS

TUTORIAL 3

UNIT 2: Resultants and Centre of

Gravity
Chapter 5: Centre of Gravity and
Centroid
Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy
EBXS3103 Statics
Jan 2005
1
Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

Copyright ODL Jan 2005 Open University Malaysia

Faculty of Engineering and

Technical Studies

SEQUENCE OF CHAPTER 5
Introduction
Objectives
5.1 Centre of Gravity and Centre of Mass for a
System of Particles
5.1.1 Centre of Gravity
5.1.2 Centre of Gravity for a System with n Particles
5.1.3 Centre of Mass

5.2 Centre of Mass, Centre of Gravity and Centroid

for Composite Body
5.2.1 Procedure for Analysis

Summary
Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

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Introduction
In this chapter, you will be exposed to one of the basic
aspect in engineering, i.e. center of gravity and
centroid.
Take a closer look at things around you. A racing car,
for instance, is designed to give maximum performance
during extreme conditions.
The aerodynamics of the car must be perfect before
the car hit the racing track. All the components inside
the car are arranged so that they will collectively give
the lowest center of gravity of the car

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

Faculty of Engineering and

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Objectives
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to :
1. discuss the concept of the center of gravity,
center of mass and centroid.
2. show how to determine the location of the center
of gravity and centroid for a system of arbitrary
shape.

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

Faculty of Engineering and

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5.1 Centre of Gravity and Centre of Mass

for a System of Particles
5.1.1 Centre of Gravity
The center of gravity, G for a body is a point which locates
the gravity or weight of the body.
The gravity or weight of the body is normally represented by
W. Theoretically, a body can be thought to consist of
particles and the gravity will act on each particle in the
body.
Therefore, this gravity force can be represented by a small
force W. This small force is uniformly distributed
throughout the body.

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

Faculty of Engineering and

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5.1 Centre of Gravity and Centre of Mass

for a System of Particles
5.1.2 Centre of Gravity for a System of n Particles
The weights of the particles comprise a system of parallel
forces which can be replaced by a single equivalent resultant
weight having the defined point G of application.
To find the x , y , z coordinates
of G, we must use the
moment principle. For a body
to be in static equilibrium,
the resultant weight must be
equal to the total weights of
all n particles, i.e.,

WR W

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

Faculty of Engineering and

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5.1 Centre of Gravity and Centre of Mass

for a System of Particles
5.1.2 Centre of Gravity for a System of n Particles
The sum of the moment of the weights of all the particles about the x,y
and z is equal to the moment of the resultant weight about these axes.
Thus, to calculate the x coordinate of G, we can take the sum of moments
about the y axis. This will give

x WR ~
x1W1 ~
x2W2 ~
xnWn

(5.1)

Similarly, by taking the summation of moments about the x axis, we will

get the y coordinate, i.e.
(5.2)
yW ~
yW ~
y W ~
yW
R

Although the weights of the system of particles shown in Figure 5.1 (a) do
not produce a moment about the z axis, we can still obtain the z
coordinate by imagining the coordinate system. We can imagine that the
particles are fixed in the system and being rotated 90 o about the x (or y)
axis, as shown in Figure 5.1 (b). By taking the summation of the moments
about the x axis, we will get
Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

Faculty of Engineering and

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5.1 Centre of Gravity and Centre of Mass

for a System of Particles
5.1.2 Centre of Gravity for a System of n Particles
The sum of the moment of the weights of all
the particles about the x,y and z is equal to the
moment of the resultant weight about these
axes. Thus, to calculate the x coordinate of G,
we can take the sum of moments about the y
axis. This will give

z WR ~z1W1 ~z 2W2 ~z nWn

(5.3)

Equations (1) to (3) can be presented in a

generalized form and symbolically written in
~
xm

x
m

~
ym

y
m

~z m

z
m

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

(5.4)

Figure 5.1 (b)

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5.1 Centre of Gravity and Centre of Mass

for a System of Particles
5.1.3 Centre of Mass
Center of mass is necessary to determine when we are dealing with the
problems related to dynamics, i.e. the motion of matter under the
influence of force.
Provided that the acceleration of a body due to gravity g for every particle
is constant, thus we will have W = mg. Substituting into equation 5.4 and
by canceling g from the denominator and numerator, we will have
~
xm

x
m

~
ym

y
m

~
zm

z
m

By comparison then, the center of gravity coincides with the center of

mass. From general principles of Statics, we already know that particles
will have weight only under the influence of gravitational force. The center
of mass, on the other hand is independent of gravity.

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

Faculty of Engineering and

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5.2 Centre of Mass, Centre of Gravity and

Centroid for Composite Body
Composite body is a body that is made from several common shape
segments. Its center of gravity, G can be determined by expressing the
moment about O of its total weight is equal to the sum of the moments
about O of the weights of various component parts.
This method is much easier than the integration method for a rigid body
since the integration is replaced with the algebraic sum of various
component parts.
The following equations can be used to determine the center of gravity,
center of mass and centroid of composite body.

where

~
xm

x
m

~
ym

y
m

~
zm

z
m

(5.12)

x , y , z are the coordinates of the center of mass of the composite body.

x , y , z are the coordinates of the center of mass of each segment of the

composite body.
m is the sum of the mass of the composite parts of the body.
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5.2 Centre of Mass, Centre of Gravity and

Centroid for Composite Body
Equation 5.12 can also be used for composite body that consists of lines,
areas and volume. Equations 5.13 to 5.15 can be utilize to determine the
center of gravity, center of mass and centroid for lines, areas and
volumes.
For line:

~
xL

x
L

~
yL

y
L

~
zL

z
L

(5.13)

~
yA

y
A

~
zA

z
A

(5.14)

~y V

y
V

~
zV

z
V

(5.15)

For line:

~
xA

x
A
For line:

~
xV

x
V

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5.2 Centre of Mass, Centre of Gravity and

Centroid for Composite Body
5.2.1 Procedure for Analysis
1. Identify the composite body to be analysed.
2. Clearly identify the parts that make up the composite body. These
parts are objects of basic shapes. They can be a triangle,
rectangle, circular arc, semicircular arc, hemisphere, cylinder and
etc.
3. Identify the center of gravity or center of mass or centroid of each
parts, which is also called segments.
4. Locate this center of gravity or center of mass or centroid of this
part with respect to the coordinate axes given in the question.
5. Tabulate and write these coordinates of the center of gravity,
center of mass or centroid in the table and determine the center
of gravity or center of mass or centroid using the appropriate
equations.
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Example 5.7
Calculate the coordinates of the centroid ( x, y ) of the shaded
area shown in Figure Example 5.17 (a).

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Example 5.7
Solution
Shaded area shown in Figure Example 5.7 (a) can be divided into three basic
segments; rectangle, triangle and semicircle as shown in Figure Example 5.17
(b).

Thus,

A~x

1720812
x

86.7mm
A 19845

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

A~
y 1411148

71.1mm
A
19845

14

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Summary
Chapter 5 concentrates on the center of gravity, center of

mass and centroid.

The concept was introduced for a composite bodies. A

simpler approach is graphically discussed, where the bodies

were segmented into several basic shapes and tabulated in
the form of a table.

Using the appendix of center of gravity, center of mass and

centroid for basic objects, the center of gravity, center of

mass and centroid were determined from an algebraic
summation.

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Thank You

Subject Matter Expert/Author: Ir Dr Kanesan Muthusamy (OUM)

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