center of mass
5
5.7
- noun
- /ˈsɛntər əv mæs/
- Specialized
:
centro de masa
- The main purpose of these plates was to lower the product's center of mass in order to provide tip-over protection.
- orbit around the center of mass
- location of the center of mass
- center-of-mass motion
He never needed to bring his entire center of mass over the bar.
- He never needed to bring his entire center of mass over the bar.
- We just make a swing, put center of mass below center of rotation and what does it do?
- What you will find is that they always end up right under the center of mass of the cane.
- Well, actually, the Earth and the Sun orbit around a common centre of mass.
- But then in this situation, when I let it go and it goes uphill, now the center of mass is here.
- And I can easily find the center of mass of something that's not symmetric by doing that finger balance trick.
- So footfall has to occur behind the center of mass and then you get a very brief period of time to create an extensor pulse and then recover the leg.
- And there's probably a center, a center of mass for that mapping.
Examples
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So they specified the objective as the maximum velocity of the center of mass of the creature.
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The position of the occupant is calculated by determining the passenger's center of mass.
Academic text (2000) -
What can you say about the center of mass of the system?
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Right at the center of mass.
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The origin is the center of mass in both.
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So this particular rocket has the centre of mass behind the centre of pressure.
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In fact, this track here is the observed center of mass of the adult distribution.
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Similarly, the Sun orbits the center of mass of the solar system, located just outside the surface of the Sun.
Academic text (1995) -
The height of the center of mass was computed by integrating the vertical velocity.
Academic text (1995) -
In a binary system, two stars orbit their common center of mass.
Synonyms
14
4.5
The point in an object where its weight is evenly balanced
1
8.5
The point in a shape where it balances if made of the same material
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'the point at which the mass of a body can be considered concentrated' is directly compositional from 'center' (middle point) + 'of' (possessive/relational) + 'mass' (amount of matter). This follows a common 'center of X' noun-phrase pattern found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words can infer the basic meaning even if they may lack technical precision.
Etymology
Center of mass comes from a simple image: imagine balancing a ruler on your finger; the place where it stays level is the center where the object's mass seems to be. That's why it means 'the point where you can think all the mass is' for calculations.