A cylindrical glass has a mass of 100 grams. It is partially filled with water (density = 1 gram/cubic centimeter.)

The glass has an inside diameter of 8cm and an internal depth of 15cm. When empty the center of mass is 8cm from the top of the glass.

The glass is most stable when its center of gravity is as low as possible. How much water is then in the glass?

I started figuring out the problem and I realized that one peice of vital information is missing.  8 cm down is the current center of gravity w/o any water, that is to say that 50 grams are above 8cm and 50 grams are below 8 cm.  But as the center of gravity changes, the weight of the glass below and above the center of gravity changes as well.  If the glass is 16cm high then it would be weighted evenly all the way down, but since it is 15, and the center is 7cm up/8cm down, we infer the base weighs slightly more than the rest of the glass based on height.  We need to know the grams per centimeter in height of the glass.  If you post that extra info i'm pretty sure i can solve this

Posted by james on 2005-09-13 11:00:19