Dr. Mitchell A.

Hoselton
Halliday, Resnick and Walker
Fundamentals of Physics

AP Physics C
Serway and Beichner
Physics for Scientists and Engineers
Page 1

Center of Mass - III

P-III. A right-triangular plate is of uniform thickness and constant density. Find the Center of
Mass of the plate.
Because it has uniform density and uniform
thickness, the mass per unit area will also be
constant. We can use this observation to relate
the mass of the rectangle and the area of the
rectangle to the mass of the entire plate and the
area of the entire plate.
This means that we can equate the following
ratios:

The integral equation for the coordinate of the

center of mass has a dm. Using the relationship
above right we can convert this to a dx as follows:

Dr. Mitchell A. Hoselton

Halliday, Resnick and Walker
Fundamentals of Physics

AP Physics C
Serway and Beichner
Physics for Scientists and Engineers
Page 2

Using exactly the same logic and methods working on the y-coordinate this time, we will find
yCM = b
The coordinates of the center of mass are therefore; (a, b)
In general, then, the center of mass of any right triangle will be one-third of the way out from the
right angle along both sides.

Bonus: How far is the center of mass from the hypotenuse?

Well find the height of the small
dashed triangle in terms of the height
of the full triangle. To accomplish this
end, we use relationships among the
similar triangles in the figure to the
left.
There are four similar triangles in this
figure. Can you spot them?
There are four ratios (vertical side/horizontal side) equal to each other. They are:
Solve the first pair for
and then substitute
that expression for in
the second and third
expressions. Solve for
. Then solve for .
The results are = b and = a. From these results it is easily demonstrated that = c, and
furthermore that = h.

Bonus: Is this a general result, i.e. true for all triangles (not just for right triangles)?
With any side serving as the base, the center of mass of any triangle is one-third of the way up the
altitude. That is a general result. This can be demonstrated even for obtuse triangles. The result is
not general in the sense that one integration will get an answer.
However, any triangle can be resolved into two right triangles and then the center of mass can be
located easily using this result for the right triangles and the simplest non-calculus method for the
larger triangle. Simply put all the mass of each right triangle at its center of mass and work out the
center of mass of the larger triangle using the non-calculus method;
xCM = (A1 x1 + A2 x2) / (A1 + A2)

yCM is one-third of the way up the altitude.