TA no.

6: Answers
Anthony Rey
ENGR242 Statics - Winter 2017
March 4, 2017

Question no. 1
Remember in 5.119, we have to use the following formula to find the center of gravity:
X
YW = y i wi (1)

Instead of using this one: X

YV = y i Vi (2)
This was due to the fact that the two parts composing our composite body did not have the same specific
weight . We could have also calculated the influence of each part by using the specific weights.

1 = 0.101 lb/in3 (3)

2 = 0.306 lb/in3 (4)

Their respective influence is therefore equal to:
0.101
r1 = = 0.24816 (5)
0.101 + 0.306
0.306
r2 = = 0.75184 (6)
0.101 + 0.306
The first part accounts for around 25% and the second part for around 75%. So, let us use equation 2 to
solve our problem. The volume and centroid of each part are the same as the ones we found.

V1 = 8.042477 in3 y 1 = 2 in (7)

V2 = 12.644910 in3 y 2 = 1.25 in (8)

Before using equation 2 directly, we need to weight our volume and centroid with the ratios (the influence
of each part) we calculated so that:

Y (r1 V1 + r2 V2 ) = r1 y 1 V1 + r2 y 2 V2 (9)

which gives us:

0.24816 2 8.042477 + 0.75184 1.25 12.644910
Y = = 1.380 in (10)
0.24816 8.042477 + 0.75184 12.644910
This is the same result as the one we found using equation 1.

1
Question no. 2
We can find the centroid of common geometric shapes without memorizing them. The center of mass is
defined as: P
mi y
YCM = Y = P i (11)
mi
If the body is uniform, same density everywhere, we can re-write this formula as:
P P
Vi y i Vi y
Y = P = P i (12)
Vi Vi

If it was only a 2-D object, we will have: P

Ai y i
Y = (13)
Ai
To be more precise, we can also write: R
ydA
Y = (14)
A
Let us focus on a uniform semicircular disc and fix dA = ydx, which gives us:
R
y/2 (ydx)
Y = (15)
1/2r2

The height of a small segment is y. Its center of gravity (or centroid) is in the middle, so y = y/2. The
differential area dA = ydx. Finally, the total area of a semi-circular disc is 1/2r2 . Now, we need to
solve the integral: Rr  2 r
r x x3 /3 r


r2 x2 dx
R 2
y dx r 4r
Y = = = = (16)
r2 r2 r2 3
The trick was to use the equation of a circle r2 = x2 + y 2 to replace y 2 .
We could also use the second PappusGuldinus theorem (or Pappuss centroid theorem) which states that
The volume of a body of revolution is equal to the generating area times the distance traveled by the
centroid of the area while the body is being generated. We take our half-circle, whose area is equal
to r2 /2, and make it rotate about the x-axis. The distance from the axis to the centroid is Y . This
distance rotate 2Y to generate the sphere. The total volume of a sphere is equal to 4/3r3 . So,

4r3
 

1 2
2Y r = (17)
2 3

which yields:
4r
Y = (18)
3