Assume there is a rigid rod, floating initially at rest in a spaceship with no air resistance. As one would expect, the center of mass is halfway between both ends of the rod. Now if you apply a constant force of some arbitrary amount exactly perpendicular to one end of the rod, rotation will certainly occur about the center of mass. However, will the center of mass move relative to a stationary observer in the spaceship? My intuition would tell me yes because there is one force being applied to the object, however, I am unsure.
Asked
Active
Viewed 178 times
1 Answers
0
Yes the center of mass will move relative to the stationary observer, because there is a net force on the rod. In order for there to be pure rotation about the center of mass an equal and opposite parallel force needs to be applied to the other end of the rod. It’s called a “couple”.
Hope this helps
Bob D
- 81,786