<P> The center of mass plays an important role in astronomy and astrophysics, where it is commonly referred to as the barycenter . The barycenter is the point between two objects where they balance each other; it is the center of mass where two or more celestial bodies orbit each other . When a moon orbits a planet, or a planet orbits a star, both bodies are actually orbiting around a point that lies away from the center of the primary (larger) body . For example, the Moon does not orbit the exact center of the Earth, but a point on a line between the center of the Earth and the Moon, approximately 1,710 km (1,062 miles) below the surface of the Earth, where their respective masses balance . This is the point about which the Earth and Moon orbit as they travel around the Sun . If the masses are more similar, e.g., Pluto and Charon, the barycenter will fall outside both bodies . </P> <P> When high jumpers perform a "Fosbury Flop", they bend their respective bodies in such a way that they clear the bar while their respective centers of mass do not necessarily do so . Because it is the height of the center of gravity (rather than of the highest part of the body) that constrains the minimum energy investment for "clearing" the bar, "snaking over" the bar can reduce the energy expended in propelling the body upward . </P> <P> In kinesiology and biomechanics, the center of mass is an important parameter that assists people in understanding their human locomotion . Typically, a human's center of mass is detected with one of two methods: The reaction board method is a static analysis that involves the person lying down on that instrument, and use of their static equilibrium equation to find their center of mass; the segmentation method relies on a mathematical solution based on the physical principle that the summation of the torques of individual body sections, relative to a specified axis, must equal the torque of the whole system that constitutes the body, measured relative to the same axis . </P>

The center of gravity in human movement is always static