CAIE IGCSE Physics 1.5.3 Centre of Gravity Topic Practice

A radio transmitter is a very tall, thin cylinder. It is prevented from falling over by wires which have one end fixed to the transmitter and the other end fixed in the ground. The ends of the wires in the ground are a long distance from the transmitter.

Fig. 4.1 shows the transmitter and two of the wires.

A hole is made in a square tile of uniform thickness. The diagram shows the tile hanging loosely on a nail.

Where is the centre of gravity of the tile?

Fig. 2.1 shows a balanced, uniform metre ruler made of wood.

The width of the metre ruler is $2.6 \times 10^{-2} \mathrm{~m}$ and the thickness of the ruler is $6.0 \times 10^{-3} \mathrm{~m}$.

On Fig. 2.1, mark the position of the centre of gravity of the metre ruler with a point labelled X. Label the distance of X from the 0 cm end of the ruler.

A radio transmitter is a very tall, thin cylinder. It is prevented from falling over by wires which have one end fixed to the transmitter and the other end fixed in the ground. The ends of the wires in the ground are a long distance from the transmitter.

Fig. 4.1 shows the transmitter and two of the wires.

The centre of gravity G is shown on Fig. 4.1.

State what is meant by centre of gravity.

A radio transmitter is a very tall, thin cylinder. It is prevented from falling over by wires which have one end fixed to the transmitter and the other end fixed in the ground. The ends of the wires in the ground are a long distance from the transmitter.

Fig. 4.1 shows the transmitter and two of the wires.

The centre of gravity G is shown on Fig. 4.1.

Explain why the radio transmitter without the wires is a very unstable structure.