centre of mass

noun

1. the point at which the mass of a system could be concentrated without affecting the behaviour of the system under the action of external linear forces

Example Sentences

It has been at the centre of mass litigation in the United States brought mostly by residential gardeners claiming the weedkiller caused their cancer.

From Reuters

Accelerator experiments usually measure the basic properties of a beam, such as its centre of mass, its spread in particle positions or its density profile.

From Nature

These observations shed light on the earliest stages of star formation, and might help astronomers to understand the conditions under which binary stars — pairs of stars that orbit the same centre of mass — are formed.

From Nature

In Hong Kong’s Wan Chai district, which has been at the centre of mass marches since June, small businesses say they have seen a drop of 30% to 40% in sales on protest weekends.

From The Guardian

For the collision between vapours and ultrafine particles, the reduced mass μi,p needs to be considered; vi,p is then the centre of mass velocity:

From Nature