Does anyone know of the symbol used for the center of mass in physics? Typically it is a circle with two quadrants shaded in. Unfortunately I can't find this in the standard LaTeX symbols PDF or on Detexify.
Is there a predefined command for this symbol or some other way I could get it?
I don't think it's available as a proper symbol, but you could use TikZ to draw it. By using the units em or ex, the symbol will scale corresponding to the surrounding text.
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{tikz}
\newcommand\centerofmass{%
\tikz[radius=0.4em] {%
\fill (0,0) -- ++(0.4em,0) arc [start angle=0,end angle=90] -- ++(0,-0.8em) arc [start angle=270, end angle=180];%
\draw (0,0) circle;%
}%
}
\begin{document}
Center of Mass: \centerofmass
\Huge It scales! \centerofmass
\end{document}
\fill [color=white] (0,0) -- ++(0,0.4em) arc [start angle=90,end angle=180] -- ++(0.8em,0) arc [start angle=0, end angle=-90];% before \draw (0,0) circle;% allows this to be put on a dark background nicer by filling in the "white" parts with white.
Commented
Sep 19, 2014 at 21:23
% characters at the end of the lines in your new code, like I did in the code in my answer? Omitting those is commonly the cause for unwanted shifts.
This can be generated via the stix symbols \circleurquadblack:
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{stix,graphicx}
\newcommand{\centerofmass}{{\ooalign{$\circleurquadblack$\cr\rotatebox[origin=c]{180}{$\circleurquadblack$}}}}
\begin{document}
$\circleurquadblack\ \centerofmass$
\end{document}
\node at (x,y) {$\centerofmass$};
Commented
May 3, 2018 at 19:07
stix also changes the document font instead of just providing the wanted symbol.