Finding the Center of Mass of a Soft Spring
Classical Physics
2011-11-15 v2 Mathematical Physics
math.MP
Physics Education
Abstract
This article shows how to use calculus to find the center of mass position of a soft cylindrical helical spring that is suspended vertically. The spring is non-uniformly stretched by the action of gravity. A general expression for the vertical position of the center of mass is obtained.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1005.3881,
title = {Finding the Center of Mass of a Soft Spring},
author = {Juan D. Serna and Amitabh Joshi},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1005.3881},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
LaTeX, 7 pages, 2 figures. Minor changes to agree with published version