{"id":13739,"date":"2024-12-20T22:05:50","date_gmt":"2024-12-20T22:05:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=13739"},"modified":"2024-12-20T22:05:50","modified_gmt":"2024-12-20T22:05:50","slug":"why-cant-you-switch-seats-in-an-empty-airplane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=13739","title":{"rendered":"Why Can\u2019t You Switch Seats in an Empty Airplane?"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It’s the last<\/span> flight of the day and the plane is pretty empty. So you\u2019re thinking, maaaybe you\u2019ll just move up a few rows, where there\u2019s a nice window seat with a view that\u2019s not obstructed by the wing.<\/p>\n

Not so fast, buster<\/em>. The flight attendant says that’s a no-go. You have to stay in your assigned seat or you\u2019ll mess up the weight distribution of the plane. Really? Would moving one normal-size human make a difference? Yeah, you know where this is going: Answering this question requires a bunch of awesome physics. So let’s get to it!<\/p>\n

Center of Mass<\/h2>\n

People often say an object\u2019s center of mass is the location at which all of the gravitational force acts. That\u2019s a fair working definition, and you can use it to solve many physics problems, but it’s not really true. In fact the gravitational force pulls on all<\/em> parts of an object, not just one point.<\/p>\n

(A quick side note: We\u2019re actually going to look at the center of gravity<\/em>, not the center of mass, but in a constant gravitational field like here on Earth, they\u2019re the same.)<\/p>\n

If you really want to understand the center of mass, you need to think about torque<\/em>. Looking back at Newton’s second law, it says that a net force changes the motion of an object (Fnet<\/sub><\/strong> = mass \u00d7 acceleration<\/strong>). So if the net force is zero, the motion of an object won\u2019t change. If it\u2019s moving with a certain velocity, it will keep doing so. If it\u2019s at rest, it will keep on resting.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a little experiment: Place a pencil on a flat table and then, taking your two index fingers, push from opposite sides, right at the center. It just stays there, right? Because you\u2019re applying equal and opposite forces, the net force is zero. But what if you push on it like this:<\/p>\n

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