Two bodies of masses 2 kg and 4 kg, initially at rest, start moving towards each other due to mutual gravitational attraction. At a certain instant their speeds are 2 m/s and 1 m/s respectively. The speed of their centre of mass at that instant is
As Centre of mass was initially at rest and no external force act on it, Center of mass will remain at rest.
Note: Gravitational force here is internal force acting between two objects.
A boat of mass 40 kg is at rest. A dog of mass 4 kg starts moving in the boat with velocity of 10 m/s. What is the speed of boat ?
\[ v_{cm}=\frac{(m_{1}v_{1}+ m_{2}v_{2})}{(m_{1}+m_{2})} \]
As Center of mass will remain at rest \[ (m_{1}v_{1}+ m_{2}v_{2}) = 0 \]
4 × 10 + 40 × v = 0
v = -1 m/s
A system consists of two identical particles. One particle is at rest and the other particle has an acceleration a. The centre of mass of the system has an acceleration
\[ a_{cm} = \frac{(m_{1}a_{1}+ m_{2}a_{2})}{(m_{1}+ m_{2})} \]
\[ a_{cm} = \frac{(m\times a+ m\times 0)}{(m+ m)}= \frac{a}{2} \]
Two persons of masses 55 kg and 65 kg are at the opposite ends of a boat. The length of the boat is 3.0 m and its mass is 100 kg. The 55 kg man walks upto the 65 kg man and sits with him. If the boat is in still water, the centre of mass of the system shifts by
As the boat was initially at rest and no external force acts on it centre of mass will remain at rest.