Blocks and center of
gravity
This is a home work problem shown in many Fundamental
Physics textbooks .
- How to stack four uniform blocks on
top of a table,
- so that they extend as far right as possible and
still remain stable.
- How should each be positioned?
- Can the top block have its entire length beyond the edge
of the table.
- Would you like to play!
Rules :
- So long as the center of gravity is directly
above some point
- within area of support, the system will be
stable
- You can drag and move blocks horizontal
with your mouse.
- The stability of the sub-system is color
coded
- Green: the sub-system is
in stable equilibrium
- yellow:
the center of gravity is right
above the edge of the supporting
block.
- red: the sub-system is unstable,
it will fall in real life.
- The center of gravity for each block is
shown as a small blue dot.
- If you press "Show c.g." button
- The center of gravity for the
blocks being moved will be shown
as a small circle.
- The length of the arrow is
proportional to the gravitational
force for each balanced
sub-system.
- Label of this button change to
"Hide c.g", and you
know what it means.
- Current mouse position is shown in the
"Text Field" (relative to top
left edge of the table)
- The percentage to the max. distance is
shown on right edge of top block. It will
smile when you get 100%
- All the other numbers are coordinates
measured from the left edge of the
current window and they are all color
coded.
| The
left edge of each block under the
number |
| The
center of gravity of each block
the number is in |
| The
center of gravity for all the
blocks above the number |