Week 11

Angular Momentum;
General Rotation

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 Units of Chapter 11

• Angular Momentum—Objects Rotating About a

Fixed Axis
• Vector Cross Product; Torque as a Vector
• Angular Momentum of a Particle
• Angular Momentum and Torque for a System of
Particles; General Motion
• Angular Momentum and Torque for a Rigid
Object

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 Units of Chapter 11

• Conservation of Angular Momentum

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 Translational-Rotational Analogues

Translation Rotation
Displacement x θ
Velocity v ω
Acceleration a α
Force (Torque) F τ
Mass m I
Kinetic Energy 1/2mv2 1/2Iω2
Momentum p=mv L=Iω
 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
The rotational analog of linear momentum
is angular momentum, L:

Then the rotational analog of Newton’s

second law is:

This form of Newton’s second law is valid

even if I is not constant.

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 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
In the absence of an external torque,
angular momentum is conserved:
dL
= 0 and L = I  = constant.
dt
More formally,

the total angular momentum of a

rotating object remains constant if the
net external torque acting on it is zero.

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 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
This means:

Therefore, if an object’s moment of inertia

changes, its angular speed changes as well.

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 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
Example 11-1: Object rotating on a string of changing
length.
A small mass m attached to the end of a string
revolves in a circle on a frictionless tabletop. The
other end of the string passes through a hole in the
table. Initially, the mass revolves with a speed v1 = 2.4
m/s in a circle of radius R1 = 0.80 m. The string is then
pulled slowly through the hole so that the radius is
reduced to R2 = 0.48 m. What is the speed, v2, of the
mass now?

Conservation of angular
momentum gives the speed as 4.0
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m/s
 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
Example 11-2: Clutch.
A simple clutch consists of two cylindrical
plates that can be pressed together to connect
two sections of an axle, as needed, in a piece
of machinery. The two plates have masses MA
= 6.0 kg and MB = 9.0 kg, with equal radii R0 =
0.60 m. They are initially separated. Plate MA is
accelerated from rest to an angular velocity ω1
= 7.2 rad/s in time Δt = 2.0 s. Calculate (a) the
angular momentum of MA, and (b) the torque
required to have accelerated MA from rest to a.The angular momentum is 7.8
ω1. (c) Next, plate MB, initially at rest but free to kg·m2/s.
b.The torque is the change in
rotate without friction, is placed in firm contact angular momentum divided by
with freely rotating plate MA, and the two the time, 3.9 m·N.
c.Angular momentum is
plates both rotate at a constant angular conserved (this is a rotational
velocity ω2, which is considerably less than ω1. collision), so the new angular
Why does this happen, and what is ω2? speed is 2.9 rad/s.
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 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
Example 11-3: Neutron star.
Astronomers detect stars that are rotating extremely
rapidly, known as neutron stars. A neutron star is
believed to form from the inner core of a larger star
that collapsed, under its own gravitation, to a star of
very small radius and very high density. Before
collapse, suppose the core of such a star is the size of
our Sun (r ≈ 7 x 105 km) with mass 2.0 times as great as
the Sun, and is rotating at a frequency of 1.0 revolution
every 100 days. If it were to undergo gravitational
collapse to a neutron star of radius 10 km, what would
its rotation frequency be? Assume the star is a uniform
sphere at all times, and loses no mass.
Angular momentum is conserved; the rotation rate would be about 600 rev/s.
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 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis

Angular momentum is
a vector; for a
symmetrical object
rotating about a
symmetry axis it is in
the same direction as
the angular velocity
vector.

a) A person on a circular platform, both initially at rest,

begins walking along the edge at speed v. The platform,
assumed to be mounted on friction-free bearings, begins
rotating in the opposite direction, so that the total angular
momentum remains zero, as shown in (b).
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 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
Example 11-4: Running on a circular platform.
Suppose a 60-kg person stands at the edge of
a 6.0-m-diameter circular platform, which is
mounted on frictionless bearings and has a
moment of inertia of 1800 kg·m2. The platform
is at rest initially, but when the person begins
running at a speed of 4.2 m/s (with respect to
the Earth) around its edge, the platform
begins to rotate in the opposite direction.
Calculate the angular velocity of the platform.
Angular momentum is conserved, so the angular velocity is 0.42 rad/s.
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 11-1 Angular Momentum—Objects
Rotating About a Fixed Axis
Conceptual Example 11-5:
Spinning bicycle wheel.
Your physics teacher is holding
a spinning bicycle wheel while
he stands on a stationary
frictionless turntable. What will
happen if the teacher suddenly
flips the bicycle wheel over so
that it is spinning in the
opposite direction?
Angular momentum is conserved, so the teacher will start
spinning in the direction the wheel was spinning originally.
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 11-2 Vector Cross Product; Torque as a
Vector
The vector cross product is defined as:

The direction of the cross product is

defined by a right-hand rule:

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 11-2 Vector Cross Product; Torque as a
Vector
The cross product can also be written in
determinant form:

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 11-2 Vector Cross Product; Torque as a
Vector
Some properties of the cross product:

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 11-2 Vector Cross Product; Torque as a
Vector
Torque can be defined as the vector
product of the force and the vector from
the point of action of the force to the axis
of rotation:

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 11-2 Vector Cross Product; Torque as a
Vector
For a particle, the torque can be defined
around a point O:

Here, r is the position vector from the

particle relative to O.

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 11-2 Vector Cross Product; Torque as a
Vector
Example 11-6: Torque vector.
Suppose the vector r is in the xz plane, and
is given by r = (1.2 m) + 1.2 m) Calculate
the torque vector  if F = (150 N) .

i j i j i j

k k k
 =(1.2 m) + 1.2 m) X (150 N) . = 180 m.N j
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 11-3 Angular Momentum of a Particle
The angular momentum of a particle about
a specified axis is given by:

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 11-3 Angular Momentum of a Particle

If we take the derivative of L , we find:

+ dr/dt xp

Since

we have:

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 11-3 Angular Momentum of a Particle
Conceptual Example 11-7: A particle’s
angular momentum.
What is the angular momentum of a
particle of mass m moving with speed v in
a circle of radius r in a counterclockwise
direction? ion, Inc.

Since L = r x p,
L = rmvsin90o
= mr2ω = Iω.
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 11-4 Angular Momentum and Torque for a
System of Particles; General Motion
The angular momentum of a system of
particles can change only if there is an
external torque—torques due to internal
forces cancel.

This equation is valid in any inertial

reference frame. It is also valid for the
center of mass, even if it is accelerating:

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 11-5 Angular Momentum and Torque for a
Rigid Object

For a rigid object, we can show that its

angular momentum when rotating
around a particular axis is given by:

Calculating Lω = Lz = ΣLiz. Note that

Li is perpendicular to ri and Ri is
perpendicular to the z axis, so the
three angles marked φ are equal.
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Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
 11-5 Angular Momentum and Torque for a
Rigid Object
Conceptual Example 11-9: Bicycle
wheel.
Suppose you are holding a bicycle
wheel by a handle connected to its
axle. The wheel is spinning rapidly
so its angular momentum points
horizontally as shown. Now you
suddenly try to tilt the axle upward
(so the CM moves vertically). You
expect the wheel to go up (and it
would if it weren’t rotating), but it
unexpectedly swerves to the right!
Explain. You are trying to change the angular momentum vector (i
direction, not magnitude). This requires a torque that points t
the right (which is created by the upward force you exert on th
Copyright © 2009 Pearson Education, Inc. wheel).
 11-5 Angular Momentum and Torque for a
Rigid Object

A system that is
rotationally imbalanced
will not have its angular
momentum and angular
velocity vectors in the
same direction. A
torque is required to
keep an unbalanced
system rotating.

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 11-5 Angular Momentum and Torque for a
Rigid Object
Example 11-10: Torque
on unbalanced
system.
Determine the
magnitude of the net
torque τnet needed to
keep the illustrated
system turning.

The net torque is the change in the angular momentum

and equals ωL cos φ. The angular momentum is Iω/sin φ,
so the torque is Iω2/tan φ.

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 11-6 Conservation of Angular Momentum
If the net torque on a system is constant,

The total angular momentum of a system

remains constant if the net external torque
acting on the system is zero.

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 11-6 Conservation of Angular Momentum
Example 11-11: Kepler’s second law
derived.
Kepler’s second law states that each planet
moves so that a line from the Sun to the
planet sweeps out equal areas in equal
times. Use conservation of angular
momentum to show this.

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 Summary of Chapter 11
• Angular momentum of a rigid object:

• Newton’s second law:

•Angular momentum is conserved.

• Torque:

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 Summary of Chapter 11
• Angular momentum of a particle:

• Net torque:

• If the net torque is zero, the vector

angular momentum is conserved.

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 ConcepTest 11.1 Figure Skater
A figure skater spins with her arms
1) the same
extended. When she pulls in her arms,
she reduces her rotational inertia and 2) larger because she’s rotating
spins faster so that her angular faster
momentum is conserved. Compared to 3) smaller because her rotational
her initial rotational kinetic energy, her inertia is smaller
rotational kinetic energy after she pulls
in her arms must be
 ConcepTest 11.1 Figure Skater
A figure skater spins with her arms
1) the same
extended. When she pulls in her arms,
she reduces her rotational inertia and 2) larger because she’s rotating
spins faster so that her angular faster
momentum is conserved. Compared
to her initial rotational kinetic energy, 3) smaller because her rotational
inertia is smaller
her rotational kinetic energy after she
pulls in her arms must be:

1 1
KE I 2 =
L  (used L = I ).
rot = 2 2
Because L is conserved, larger 
means larger KErot. The “extra”
energy comes from the work she
does on her arms.

Follow-up: Where does the extra energy come from?

 ConcepTest 11.2 Two Disks
Two different spinning disks have 1) disk 1
the same angular momentum, but
disk 1 has more kinetic energy than 2) disk 2
disk 2. 3) not enough info

Which one has the bigger moment of

inertia?

Disk 1
Disk 2
 ConcepTest 11.2 Two Disks
Two different spinning disks have 1) disk 1
the same angular momentum, but
disk 1 has more kinetic energy than 2) disk 2
disk 2. 3) not enough info

Which one has the bigger moment of

inertia?

1
KE = 2 I 2 = L2 (2 I)
/
(used L = I ).

Because L is the same,

bigger I means smaller KE. Disk 1
Disk 2
ConcepTest 11.3 Spinning Bicycle Wheel
You are holding a spinning bicycle 1) remain stationary
wheel while standing on a 2) start to spin in the same
stationary turntable. If you direction as before flipping
suddenly flip the wheel over so
3) to spin in the same direction
that it is spinning in the opposite
as after flipping
direction, the turntable will:
 ConcepTest 11.3 Spinning Bicycle Wheel
You are holding a spinning bicycle 1) remain stationary
wheel while standing on a
2) start to spin in the same
stationary turntable. If you
direction as before flipping
suddenly flip the wheel over so
that it is spinning in the opposite 3) start to spin in the same
direction, the turntable will: direction as after flipping

The total angular momentum of the

system is L upward, and it is
conserved. So if the wheel has
−L downward, you and the table
must have +2L upward.