Abstract
THE position of the centre of gravity of the human body has been measured in a wide range of conditions, but in many cases a high degree of accuracy was not possible because of the crude nature of the equipment. Much less work has been carried out on the movement of the centre of gravity in quasi-static conditions, but similar remarks apply to the accuracy of the results. For the erect human body the swaying motion associated with long durations of standing is readily observed, but measurements of this movement are rare. Hellebrandt1 recorded a series of positions of the centre of gravity to determine an average location, while Contini et al.2 describe apparatus by which such measurements may be made but do not seem to have produced any continuous record of the movement of the centre of gravity.
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References
Hellebrandt, F. A., Amer. J. Physiol., 121, 471 (1938).
Contini, R., Drillis, R. J., and Bluestein, M., Human Factors, 5, 5, 493 (1963).
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MORGAN, P., WATKINS, R. Centre of Gravity Movement in the Standing Human Body. Nature 215, 324–325 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/215324a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/215324a0
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Ken the Bookie
Surely centre of gravity of a human and centre of mass are not the same thing. Centre of gravity (assuming person is in a standing position) runs from the centre of the top of the head right down through the body to the feet. Centre mass would be roughly in the centre of the torso just below the rib cage. My understanding of gravity is that it pulls down on an object into the centre if the earth. As a human is taller than he is long (as a general rule) then centre of gravity must dissect him/her in two from above the head towards the centre of the earth. I believe that centre of gravity and balance point are not the same thing at all. If a human is in the prone position then the balance point would be roughly in the centre of the body. Am I wrong?