Finding the Center of Volume of the Forearm

摘要

Atypical first-year physics course teachesstudents about the center of mass usingboth regular and irregularly shaped objects.Students often suspend an object in each of twodimensions from a string with the intersection deter-mining the center of mass of the object. While thesemethods can be effective, they are not particularlyexciting or motivating. Wouldn't it be more interest-ing to find the center of mass of a body part, suchas the forearm? Through a series of simple measure-ments and assumptions, students can generate a first-order approximation of the center of volume andcenter of mass of their forearm. Comparisons can bemade between the muscular forearm of the footballplayer in the class with the scrawniest arm in theroom, creating a deeper understanding of center ofmass and how it relates to the human body