Center of gravity (Cg) can also be measured using a board (like above), two scales (cheap bathroom scales are fine), and some simple force balancing (covered in most engineering intro courses). A thin bar/beam to rest between the board and scale to keep the weight centered is helpful, but not critical.

1. Place the scales with their centers spaced such that one would be underneath the driver’s hands, and the other under the driver’s toes.
2. Place the board evenly across the two scales
3. If possible, lay a bar/beam across the center of each scale perpendicular to the length of the board. This will provide the most accurate measurement.
4. With the board in place, zero the scales (tare), OR record the baseline weight reading so they can be subtracted for your final calculations.
5. Carefully have the driver lay onto the board and check that her hands and toes are over the center of each scale. If not, repeat 1-4 until they are.
6. Record the weight readings with the driver on the board subtracting the respective baseline readings as needed.
7. Adding the scale measurements together should be roughly equivalent to the driver’s total weight
8. Since we are looking for the distance from the hands to the CG, in a static system (i.e. nothing moving) all forces AND torques are equal, so treating the hands as a pivot point, we know that:
9.         Weight of Driver * Length to CG = Weight at Toes * Length to Toes
10.             Wdriver * Lcg = FToes * LToes
11. Reorganizing that equation to solve for Lcg we get
12.             Lcg = WToes * LToes / Wdriver
13. Typically, a person’s CG is somewhere around their navel or just below their waist.