- #1
freemovement
- 7
- 0
I am a bit confused about a statement I read in my textbook saying the sum of external forces on a body is equal to the body's mass times the acceleration of it's center of mass. It seems to me if a long rod is suspended in the air by a string at its center of mass, and I tap the rod near one of the ends with a certain force, the rod will spin and the center of mass of the rod will accelerate less than if I had tapped it at the center of mass. Yet the external forces on the rod in both situations would be equal. What am I missing?