Question

Itell when a perpendicular line drawn through its Centre of Gravity (CG), passes throu
e picture of a popular toy given below. The horse, the rider and the ball are all joined together as one single
alanced on the thin black rod shown. At which of the indicated positions, could the Centre of Gravity (CG)
and ball unit be?
A
B
C
D​

Answer 1

It is one thing to have a system in equilibrium; it is quite another for it to be stable. The toy doll perched on the man’s hand in Figure 1, for example, is not in stable equilibrium. There are three types of equilibrium: stable, unstable, and neutral. Figures throughout this module illustrate various examples.

Figure 1 presents a balanced system, such as the toy doll on the man’s hand, which has its center of gravity (cg) directly over the pivot, so that the torque of the total weight is zero. This is equivalent to having the torques of the individual parts balanced about the pivot point, in this case the hand. The cgs of the arms, legs, head, and torso are labeled with smaller type.