Applications of Integration 6

6.6 Applications to Physics and Engineering

Applications to Physics and Engineering
Among the many applications of integral calculus to physics
and engineering, we consider three: work, force due to
water pressure, and centers of mass.

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Work

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Work
The term work is used in everyday language to mean the
total amount of effort required to perform a task.

In physics it has a technical meaning that depends on the

idea of a force.

Intuitively, you can think of a force as describing a push or

pull on an object—for example, a horizontal push of a book
across a table or the downward pull of the earth’s gravity on
a ball.

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 Work
In general, if an object moves along a straight line with
position function s(t), then the force F on the object (in the
same direction) is defined by Newton’s Second Law of
Motion as the product of its mass m and its acceleration:

In the SI metric system, the mass is measured in

kilograms (kg), the displacement in meters (m), the time in
seconds (s), and the force in newtons (N = kg  m/s2).

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 Work
Thus a force of 1 N acting on a mass of 1 kg produces an
acceleration of 1 m/s2. In the US Customary system the
fundamental unit is chosen to be the unit of force, which is
the pound.

In the case of constant acceleration, the force F is also

constant and the work done is defined to be the product of
the force F and the distance d that the object moves:

If F is measured in newtons and d in meters, then the unit

for W is a newton-meter, which is called a joule (J). If F is
measured in pounds and d in feet, then the unit for W is a
foot-pound (ft-lb), which is about 1.36 J.
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 Work
For instance, suppose you lift a 1.2-kg book off the floor to
put it on a desk that is 0.7 m high. The force you exert is
equal and opposite to that exerted by gravity, so Equation 1
gives
F = mg = (1.2)(9.8) = 11.76 N
and then Equation 2 gives the work done as
W = Fd = (11.76)(0.7)  8.2 J

But if a 20-lb weight is lifted 6 ft off the ground, then the

force is given as F = 20 lb, so the work done is
W = Fd = 20  6 = 120 ft-lb

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 Work
Here we didn’t multiply by g because we were given the
weight (a force) and not the mass.

Equation 2 defines work as long as the force is constant, but

what happens if the force is variable?

Let’s suppose that the object moves along the x-axis in the
positive direction, from x = a to x = b, and at each point x
between a and b a force f(x) acts on the object, where f is a
continuous function.

We divide the interval [a, b] into n subintervals with

endpoints x0, x1, . . . , xn and equal width x.

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 Work
We choose a sample point xi* in the ith subinterval [xi–1, xi].
Then the force at that point is f(xi*).

If n is large, then x is small, and since f is continuous, the

values of f don’t change very much over the interval [xi– 1, xi].

In other words, f is almost constant on the interval and so

the work Wi that is done in moving the particle from xi–1 to xi
is approximately given by Equation 2:
Wi  f(xi*) x

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Work
Thus we can approximate the total work by

It seems that this approximation becomes better as we

make n larger. Therefore we define the work done in
moving the object from a to b as the limit of this quantity
as n → . Since the right side of (3) is a Riemann sum, we
recognize its limit as being a definite integral and so

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Example 1 – Work Done by a Variable Force
When a particle is located a distance x feet from the origin, a
force of x2 + 2x pounds acts on it. How much work is done in
moving it from x = 1 to x = 3?

Solution:

The work done is ft-lb.

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Work
Hooke’s Law states that the force required to maintain a
spring stretched x units beyond its natural length is
proportional to x:
f(x) = kx
where k is a positive constant (called the spring constant).
Hooke’s Law holds provided that x is not too large
(see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Hooke’s Law

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Hydrostatic Pressure and Force

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Hydrostatic Pressure and Force
Deep-sea divers realize that water pressure increases as
they dive deeper. This is because the weight of the water
above them increases.

In general, suppose that a thin horizontal plate with area A

square meters is submerged in a fluid of density  kilograms
per cubic meter at a depth d meters below the surface of the
fluid as in Figure 5.

Figure 5
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 Hydrostatic Pressure and Force
The fluid directly above the plate has volume V = Ad, so its
mass is m = V =  Ad. The force exerted by the fluid on the
plate is therefore
F = mg =  gAd
where g is the acceleration due to gravity. The pressure P on
the plate is defined to be the force per unit area:

The SI unit for measuring pressure is newtons per square

meter, which is called a pascal (abbreviation: 1 N/m 2 = 1 Pa).
Since this is a small unit, the kilopascal (kPa) is often used.

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 Hydrostatic Pressure and Force
For instance, because the density of water is  = 1000 kg/m3,
the pressure at the bottom of a swimming pool 2 m deep is

P =  gd = 1000 kg/m3  9.8 m/s2  2 m

= 19,600 Pa = 19.6 kPa

An important principle of fluid pressure is the experimentally

verified fact that at any point in a liquid the pressure is the
same in all directions. (A diver feels the same pressure on
nose and both ears.)

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 Hydrostatic Pressure and Force
Thus the pressure in any direction at a depth d in a fluid with
mass density  is given by

P =  gd = d

This helps us determine the hydrostatic force against a

vertical plate or wall or dam in a fluid.

This is not a straightforward problem because the pressure is

not constant but increases as the depth increases.

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 Example 5 – Hydrostatic Force on a Dam
A dam has the shape of the trapezoid shown in Figure 6. The
height is 20 m and the width is 50 m at the top and 30 m at
the bottom. Find the force on the dam due to hydrostatic
pressure if the water level is 4 m from the top of the dam.

Figure 6

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 Example 5 – Solution
We choose a vertical x-axis with origin at the surface of the
water as in Figure 7(a).

Figure 7(a)

The depth of the water is 16 m, so we divide the interval

[0, 16] into subintervals of equal length with endpoints xi and
we choose xi*  [xi–1, xi].
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Example 5 – Solution cont’d

The ith horizontal strip of the dam is approximated by a

rectangle with height x and width wi, where, from similar
triangles in Figure 7(b),

or

and so Figure 7(b)

wi = 2(15 + a)
= 2(15 + 8 – xi*)
= 46 – xi*
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 Example 5 – Solution cont’d

If Ai is the area of the ith strip, then

Ai  wi x
= (46 – xi*) x
If x is small, then the pressure Pi on the ith strip is almost
constant and we can use Equation 5 to write
Pi  1000gxi*
The hydrostatic force Fi acting on the ith strip is the product
of the pressure and the area:
Fi = Pi Ai
 1000gxi*(46 – xi*) x

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Example 5 – Solution cont’d

Adding these forces and taking the limit as n → , we obtain

the total hydrostatic force on the dam:

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Moments and Centers of Mass

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
Our main objective here is to find the point P on which a thin
plate of any given shape balances horizontally as in Figure 8.

This point is called the center of mass (or center of gravity)

of the plate.

Figure 8

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
We first consider the simpler situation illustrated in Figure 9,
where two masses m1 and m2 are attached to a rod of
negligible mass on opposite sides of a fulcrum and at
distances d1 and d2 from the fulcrum.

Figure 9

The rod will balance if

m1d1 = m2d2
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 Moments and Centers of Mass
This is an experimental fact discovered by Archimedes and
called the Law of the Lever. (Think of a lighter person
balancing a heavier one on a seesaw by sitting farther away
from the center.)

Now suppose that the rod lies along the x-axis with m1 at x1
and m2 at x2 and the center of mass at

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
If we compare Figures 9 and 10, we see that and
and so Equation 6 gives

Figure 9

Figure 10

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
The numbers m1x1 and m2x2 are called the moments of the
masses m1 and m2 (with respect to the origin), and
Equation 7 says that the center of mass is obtained by
adding the moments of the masses and dividing by the total
mass m = m1 + m2.

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
In general, if we have a system of n particles with masses
m1, m2, . . . , mn located at the points x1, x2, . . . , xn on the
x-axis, it can be shown similarly that the center of mass of
the system is located at

where m =  mi is the total mass of the system, and the sum

of the individual moments

is called the moment of the system about the origin.

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
Then Equation 8 could be rewritten as m = M, which says
that if the total mass were considered as being concentrated
at the center of mass , then its moment would be the same
as the moment of the system.

Now we consider a system

of n particles with masses
m1, m2, . . . , mn located
at the points
(x1, y1), (x2, y2), . . . , (xn, yn)
in the xy-plane as shown
in Figure 11. Figure 11

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
By analogy with the one-dimensional case, we define the
moment of the system about the y-axis to be

and the moment of the system about the x-axis as

Then My measures the tendency of the system to rotate

about the y-axis and Mx measures the tendency to rotate
about the x-axis.

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
As in the one-dimensional case, the coordinates of the
center of mass are given in terms of the moments by the
formulas

where m =  mi is the total mass. Since m = My and

m = Mx, the center of mass is the point where a single
particle of mass m would have the same moments as the
system.

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 Example 6
Find the moments and center of mass of the system of
objects that have masses 3, 4, and 8 at the points (–1, 1),
(2, –1), and (3, 2).

Solution:
We use Equations 9 and 10 to compute the moments:
My = 3(–1) + 4(2) + 8(3) = 29
Mx = 3(1) + 4(–1) + 8(2) = 15
Since m = 3 + 4 + 8 = 15, we use Equations 11 to obtain

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 Example 6 – Solution cont’d

Thus the center of mass is (See Figure 12.)

Figure 12

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
Next we consider a flat plate (called a lamina) with uniform
density  that occupies a region R of the plane.

We wish to locate the center of mass of the plate, which is

called the centroid of R.

In doing so we use the following physical principles: The

symmetry principle says that if R is symmetric about a line l,
then the centroid of R lies on l. (If R is reflected about l, then
R remains the same so its centroid remains fixed. But the
only fixed points lie on l.)

Thus the centroid of a rectangle is its center.

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
Moments should be defined so that if the entire mass of a
region is concentrated at the center of mass, then its
moments remain unchanged.

Also, the moment of the union of two nonoverlapping regions

should be the sum of the moments of the individual regions.

Suppose that the region R is of

the type shown in Figure 13(a);
that is, R lies between the
lines x = a and x = b, above
the x-axis, and beneath the graph
of f, where f is a continuous
function. Figure 13(a)

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
We divide the interval [a, b] into n subintervals with endpoints
x0, x1, . . . , xn and equal width x. We choose the sample
point xi* to be the midpoint of the ith subinterval, that is,

This determines the polygonal approximation to R shown in

Figure 13(b).

Figure 13(b)
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 Moments and Centers of Mass
The centroid of the ith approximating rectangle Ri is its center
Its area is so its mass is

The moment of Ri about the y-axis is the product of its mass

and the distance from Ci to the y-axis, which is Thus

Adding these moments, we obtain the moment of the

polygonal approximation to R, and then by taking the limit as
n → we obtain the moment of R itself about the y-axis:

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
In a similar fashion we compute the moment of Ri about the
x-axis as the product of its mass and the distance from Ci
to the x-axis:

Again we add these moments and take the limit to obtain

the moment of R about the x-axis:

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
Just as for systems of particles, the center of mass of the
plate is defined so that and But the mass
of the plate is the product of its density and its area:

and so

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 Moments and Centers of Mass
Notice the cancellation of the ’s. The location of the center
of mass is independent of the density.

In summary, the center of mass of the plate (or the centroid

of R) is located at the point , where

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