Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
Experiments involving angular momentum
Predict what will happen ... and then we'll see what actually
DOES happen.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am motionless.
I swing one arm radially away from my body.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am motionless.
I swing one arm tangentially in a horizontal arc.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am motionless.
I swing both arms tangentially in horizontal arcs
so both come forward together, both go back together.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am motionless.
I swing both arms tangentially in horizontal arcs
so one comes forward as the other goes backward.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am spinning slowly with my arms at my sides.
I raise my arms so they stick outwards horizontally.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am spinning slowly with my arms outstretched.
I lower my arms to my sides.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am spinning slowly with my arms outstretched,
holding a basketball in each hand.
I drop the basketballs.
- I stand on a platform which is free to rotate.
I am motionless.
Joe spins a bicycle wheel and hands it to me,
so that I hold its axle vertically ...
- ....
Now, I flip the wheel upside down.
- ....
Now, I flip the wheel back to its original orientation.
- I attach a piece of string to one end of the axle of
a stationary bicycle wheel.
I hold onto the string, and release the wheel.
- I attach a piece of string to one end of the axle of
a bicycle wheel, spinning so that the top comes
out of the screen towards you, and the bottom goes into
the screen away from you.
I hold onto the string, and release the wheel.
Copyright © Michael Richmond.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.