College Physics (4th Edition)

Published by McGraw-Hill Education
ISBN 10: 0073512141
ISBN 13: 978-0-07351-214-3

Chapter 7 - Problems - Page 264: 35

Answer

The center of mass moves 4 cm in the +x-direction.

Work Step by Step

Since the y-coordinate of all three points stays the same, the y-coordinate of the center of mass does not change. Let $M$ be the mass of each object. Let $x_{com}$ be the x-coordinate of the original center of mass. We can find the x-coordinate of the new center of mass $x_{com}'$: $x_{com}' = x_{com}+\frac{(M)~(12~cm)}{3M} = x_{com}+4~cm$ The center of mass moves 4 cm in the +x-direction.
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