How to Find the Center of a Ball Moving Forward

[BrewVegas]

Take any kind of solid ball like a marble, baseball or bowling ball (without holes). I'm assuming that it is not absolutely centered when in forward motion. There is a minute amount of wobble. It could use an alignment like a tire, but you can't add weights or drill holes for correction. How can you find the best lie upon which to roll it. If you were to take a marker and draw a line around the circumference for the best path to roll forward, how would you determine where to draw the line? Thanks...

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

The center of a ball moving forward is the center of mass. The center of mass is the average location of all the mass in an object. The center of mass is the point at which the object would balance if it were suspended from that point. For example, the center of mass of a hoop is at the midpoint of the hoop.

The center of mass of a cylinder is at the midpoint of its height. The center of mass of a square is at the midpoint of each side.

Example 1 A ball with a radius of 0.3 m moves forward with a speed of 2 m/s. Find the speed at the center of mass. Answer: m = 0.3 m v = 2 m/s v cm = v/m = (2 m/s)/0.3 m = 6 m/s