In history, the concept 'center of mass' , was first introduced by the ancient greek physycist, mathematician and engineer Archimedes Of Syracuse. He used to work with simplified assumptions about gravity that add up to a uniform field, which is what we now know as the center of mass. He showed that the torque had exerted on a a lever by weights resting at various points along the lever is the same as what it would be if all the weights had moved to a single point. He made formulas for all of his techniques. In physics the center of mass of a distribution of mass in space is the unique point where the weighted relative position of the distribution mass all sums up to zero.
The distribution of mass is balanced around the center of mass and the average of the weighted position coordinates of the distribution of mass defines its coordinates. The center of mass is a useful reference point for calculations in mechanics that involve masses of distributed space Man, from the earliest of times, has been intrigued with the skill of balancing objects. Even though in modern times scientists have long ago taken the mystery out of the laws of gravity, there is still something very fascinating about watching a balanced object lean and sway and yet not topple to the ground. Balancing toys, found in all parts of the world, reflect the culture and physical environment of their originators.- Today we use the center of mass to balance objects for many things. Without the center of mass we wouldnt have simple things like a scale and a balancing beam.
The concept of "center of mass" in the form of the "center of gravity" was first introduced by the ancient Greek physicist, mathematician, and engineer Archimedes of Syracuse. He worked with simplified assumptions about gravity that amount to a uniform field, thus arriving at the mathematical properties of what we now call the center of mass. Archimedes showed that the torque exerted on a lever by weights resting at various points along the lever is the same as what it would be if all of the weights were moved to a single point — their center of mass. In work on floating bodies he demonstrated that the orientation of a floating object is the one that makes its center of mass as low as possible. He developed mathematical techniques for finding the centers of mass of objects of uniform density of various well-defined shapes.[1]
Later mathematicians who developed the theory of the center of mass include Pappus of Alexandria, Guido Ubaldi, Francesco Maurolico,[2] Federico Commandino,[3] Simon Stevin,[4] Luca Valerio,[5] Jean-Charles de la Faille, Paul Guldin,[6] John Wallis, Louis Carré, Pierre Varignon, and Alexis Clairaut.[7]
Newton's second law is reformulated with respect to the center of mass in Euler's first law.