Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Cambridge / 2007 / ia / Paper 4 / 12C / i / Solution

For constant particle masses define the centre of mass by $M\mathbf{X}={\sum }_i{m}_i{\mathbf{r}}_i$, with $M={\sum }_i{m}_i$. Summing Newton's second law over all particles givesEach pair of internal forces cancels by Newton's third law. HenceOnly the action-reaction condition is needed for this translation law; centrality of the internal forces is needed for the angular momentum result in part (ii).