Eli5: when you “lower the center of gravity” on something ( car, or whatever) does it actually have anything to do with gravity?

Question

Eli5: when you “lower the center of gravity” on something ( car, or whatever) does it actually have anything to do with gravity?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Put a pen on your fingertip, and it will rotate one way or the other and fall off. There’s more of the pen’s mass on one side than there is on the other, so gravity pulling that side downwards more makes the rotation (and fall) happen.

Now practice placing the pen on your fingertip in different spots until it balance. You’ve now made the rotation from gravity exactly equal on both sides, so they cancel out, so it just sits there. You have found the *center of gravity* – it’s not the spot where the pen’s *length* is centered on your finger, but instead it’s the spot where the *gravitational forces* are *centered*.