Question

A fat person is standing on a light plank floating on a calm lake. The person walks from one end to the other on the plank. His friend sitting on the shore watches him and finds that the person hardly moves any distance because the plank moves backward about the same distance as the person moves on the plank. Explain.

Answer 1

According to the question, the weight of plank is very less as compared to the fat person. Therefore, the centre of mass of the whole system effectively lies on the person. As the net external force on the system is zero, the centre of mass of the system does not move.