How To: Master weight and balance concepts with NASA

Join NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) as they give the basics on the concepts of weight and balance as applied to aerospace. There's no better place to learn about aviation theory than NASA, the United States government's most infamous agency--the powerhouse of space exploration.

This NASA video segment from "Flight Testing Newton's Laws" explores where the center of gravity is on an airplane, how its location is determined, and why center of gravity is important for maintaining balance. An instructor and an engineer at NASA's National Test Pilot School teach that to control an aircraft, its center of gravity must be located where the wing lift is. Viewers also learn that computers in the aircraft redistribute the weight of fuel to maintain a safe zone for the center of gravity. Demonstrations show how to find the center of gravity of an irregularly shaped object and how the same scientific principles involved in balancing a seesaw apply to balancing an airplane. Viewers also learn that a moment is the product of force times the arm length.