Center of mass

The center of mass or center of inertia of an object is a point at which the object's mass can be assumed, for many purposes, to be concentrated. For example, an object can balance on a point only if its center of mass is directly above the point. Alternatively, if you hang an object from a string, the object's center of mass will be directly below the string.

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The path of an object in orbit depends only on its center of gravity. Most astronomical objects are radially symmetric, causing both the center of gravity and the center of mass to coincide at the center of the sphere.

Related Topics:
Orbit - Center of gravity

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In physics, the center of gravity (CoG) of an object is the average location of its weight. In a uniform gravitational field, it coincides with the object's center of mass.

Related Topics:
Physics - Center of gravity - Center of mass

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Precisely, the center of mass of a group of points is defined as the weighted mean of the points' positions, where the weight applied to each point is the point's mass.

Related Topics:
Weighted mean - Mass

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