Creative Commons License 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.

  1. I stand on a platform which is free to rotate. I am motionless. I swing one arm radially away from my body.

  2. I stand on a platform which is free to rotate. I am motionless. I swing one arm tangentially in a horizontal arc.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. 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.

  8. 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 ...

  9. .... Now, I flip the wheel upside down.

  10. .... Now, I flip the wheel back to its original orientation.

    
    
    
    


  11. 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.

  12. 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.


Creative Commons License Copyright © Michael Richmond. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.