FIG.

1:

Motion with Static Center of Mass

Example 1:
Two objects with mass m1 and m2 on a frictionless table are connected by a spring with
spring constant k. There is no external force. What is the frequency/period of the harmonic
oscillation?
Because there is no external force, the center of mass R = Rx̂ remains a constant (strictly
speaking, R can also move with a constant velocity, but one can always change reference
frame to the “center of mass reference”, all physics laws still apply without any fictitious
force, because the “center of mass reference” is an inertial reference frame.)
Let us assume that the coordinates of m1 and m2 are x1 and x2 , which are both function
of t. At t = 0, the spring is at the equilibrium length. By definition, the center of mass
coordinate is

m1 x1 (t) + m2 x2 (t)
R= . (1)
m1 + m2

Even though x1 (t) and x2 (t) are functions of time, R is a constant. This means that even if x1
and x2 have displacements ∆x1 = x1 (t) − x1 (0) and ∆x2 = x2 (t) − x2 (0), ∆R = R(t) − R(0)
(change of R) must be zero:

0 = R(t) − R(0)

m1 x1 (t) + m2 x2 (t) m1 x1 (0) + m2 x2 (0)

= −
m1 + m2 m1 + m2

1
 m1 (x1 (t) − x1 (0)) + m2 (x2 (t) − x2 (0))
=
m1 + m2

m1 ∆x1 + m2 ∆x2
= . (2)
m1 + m2
This implies

m1
∆x2 = − ∆x1 . (3)
m2
For any problem involving a spring, the key step is to establish the relation between the
force from the spring, and the displacement of the target object. Let us take m1 as the
target object, and we need to establish the relation between the force F acting on m1 , and
the displacement ∆x1 .
The total deformation of the spring is ∆x = |∆x1 | + |∆x2 |. ∆x1 and ∆2 need to be
opposite (according to Eq.3). Hence

∆x = |∆x1 | + |∆x2 |
= ∆x1 − ∆x2
m1
= ∆x1 + ∆x1
m2
µ ¶
m1 + m2
= ∆x1 . (4)
m2
The restoration force of the spring is
µ ¶
m1 + m2
F = −k∆x = −k ∆x1 . (5)
m2
Then the effective spring constant for m1 is

m1 + m2
keff,1 = k. (6)
m2
The frequency and period of the harmonic oscillation are
r s
keff,1 (m1 + m2 )k 2π m1 m2
r
ω= = , T = = 2π . (7)
m1 m1 m2 ω (m1 + m2 )k

We can also take m2 as the target object. The answer will be the same as Eq.7. Please
practice by yourself.

2
 FIG. 2:

Example 2:
In a binary star system, there are two stars with mass m1 and m2 spinning around their
center of mass with constant angular speed. The distance between the two stars is L, what
is their angular speed ω?
m1 , m2 and their center of mass are on the same line. At certain time instance, let us
assume their are all on the x̂ axis, and the coordinates of m1 , m2 are x1 and x2 . The distance
between m1 and m2 is

L = |x1 − x2 |. (8)

The center of mass coordinate is

m 1 x1 + m 2 x2
R= . (9)
m1 + m2
The distance between m1 and R is
m 1 x1 + m 2 x2
L1 = |x1 − R| = |x1 − |
m1 + m2

(m1 + m2 )x1 − (m1 x1 + m2 x2 ) m2 |x1 − x2 |

= | |=
m1 + m2 m1 + m2

m2
= L. (10)
m1 + m2
The angular speed ω is determined by the following equation

FG = m1 ac,1 . (11)

3
FG is the gravitational force from m2 to m1 :

Gm1 m2
FG = − r̂; (12)
L2

ac,1 is the centripetal acceleration:

ac,1 = −ω 2 L1 r̂. (13)

Comparing Eq.12 and Eq.13 leads to

Gm1 m2
m 1 ω 2 L1 =
L2

m2 Gm1 m2
→ m1 ω 2 L= ,
m1 + m2 L2
r
G(m1 + m2 )
→ ω= . (14)
L3