A tag for questions about the mechanical interactions of rotating objects, including torque and angular momentum.
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1answer
103 views
Appearing To Reverse Object's Rotation
Can it be done, and if so, how does one you explain mathematically the ability to cause a rotating object to appear to change the direction of rotation? I believe it has something to do with angular ...
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2answers
79 views
Ice skater increase of energy
This may be a very basic question but I am not seeing how it works.
Consider the standard example of an ice skate rotating about his/her center of mass and pulling in his/her arms. The torque is zero ...
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1answer
256 views
Kinetic Energy And Rotational Motion
The problem is, "A metal can containing condensed mushroom soup has mass 220 g, height 11.0 cm and diameter 6.38 cm. It is placed at rest on its side at the top of a 3.00-m-long incline that is at ...
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4answers
459 views
Which direction will the yoyo move?
This question has been around the net for a while, and I haven't seen a good explanation for it:
A yo-yo is initially at rest on a horizontal surface. A string is pulled in the direction shown in ...
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1answer
291 views
Finding Rotational Kinetic Energy Of A Clock
The problem I am working on is:
"Big Ben, the Parliament tower clock in London, has an hour hand 2.70 m long with a mass of 300 kg, and a minute hand 4.20 m long with a mass of 100 kg (see figure ...
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2answers
2k views
Tensions And Pulleys With Masses
The problem I am working on is:
"A block of mass m1 = 1.80 kg and a block of mass m2 = 6.30 kg are connected by a massless string over a pulley in the shape of a solid disk having radius R = 0.250 m ...
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0answers
131 views
Torque required to spin a disk along its diameter
How would I calculate (or simulate) this? I am only interested in the aerodynamic drag caused by the surface moving, not any other forces.
As far as I know, the only variables needed are the drag ...
2
votes
1answer
267 views
How does the resistance force on a rolling ball depend on the ball radius?
A billiard ball set gently rolling on a billiard table slows and stops, because it is decelerated by resistance forces at the contact between the ball and table.
I expect the magnitude of the ...
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2answers
261 views
Setting up equations for a Rotational Kinematics system
I'm having a hard time setting up equations for the following problem:
A green hoop with mass $m_h$ and radius $r_h$ m hangs from
a string that goes over a blue solid disk pulley with mass $m_d$
...
0
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1answer
111 views
Deducing latitude from Foucault Pendulum
Suppose I set up a Foucault pendulum and observe that it precesses at a rate of 216.528 degrees per day. While I am observing this, a total solar eclipse occurs. Where am I, and what is the date?
My ...
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2answers
236 views
Force applied off center on an object
Assume there is a rigid body in deep space with mass $m$ and moment of inertia $I$. A force that varies with time, $F(t)$, is applied to the body off-center at a distance $r$ from its center of mass. ...
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3answers
2k views
Finding Angular Acceleration of rod given radius and angle
A uniform rod is 2.0 m long. The rod is pivoted about a horizontal, frictionless pin through one end. The rod is released from rest at an angle of 30° above the horizontal. What is the angular ...
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1answer
209 views
Why are Euler's equations of motion coupled? Physical explanation
I have a problem with one of my study questions for an oral exam:
Euler’s equation of motion around the $z$ axis in two dimensions is $I_z\dot{\omega}_z = M_z$, whereas it in three dimensions is ...
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1answer
42 views
Rotation of diatomic homonuclear molecule
I know that the rotation energy of a diatomic homonuclear molecule is $E_{Rot}=\frac{\hbar J(J+1)}{R^2 M}$. Does the axis of rotation depend on $J$? With respect to which axis does the molecule for ...
3
votes
1answer
127 views
Angular acceleration of stone disk
I have a conceputal question regarding the following problem:
A round massive stone disk with diameter $0.600 m$ has a mass of $50.0 kg$. The stone rotates at an angular velocity of $115.2 rad/s$, ...
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1answer
150 views
Stability of a rotating ring of multiple electrons at relativistic speeds
There was a time when physicists where concerned about electron internal structure. The rotating ring model was one of the proposals to explain how a charge density could become stable against ...
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2answers
214 views
Extracting acceleration vector from rotated aircraft
Suppose we have an aircraft with accelerometer measuring accelerations along each axis. It is mounted in a way so it is perpendicular to the plane in all axes (that should be obvious). We also have ...
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2answers
251 views
Precession of angular velocity about the body-fixed axis
My textbook mentions that under force-free motion of a symmetric top, its angular velocity vector $\overrightarrow \omega$ precesses about the $z$-axis of the body-fixed coordinate system. This seems ...
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2answers
621 views
Hamiltonian is conserved, but is not the total mechanical energy
I wondering about the interpretation for the energy difference between the Hamiltonian and the total mechanical energy for systems where the Hamiltonian is conserved, but it is not equal to the total ...
3
votes
1answer
275 views
Rotating/Translating Disk
I was trying to understand an aspect of rotational dynamics and thought of a problem to help me learn. I'm sure this problem has been considered by countless people in the past, but I'm having some ...
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vote
3answers
531 views
Time period of torsion oscillation
The time period for a wave of frequency $\nu$ is given by $T = \frac{1}{\nu}$ or in other words, $T=\frac{2\pi}{\omega}$ where $\omega$ is the angular velocity...
For the oscillation of a torsion ...
1
vote
1answer
116 views
How do the energy eigenvalues of rotational degrees of freedom in statistical mechanics come about?
I want to understand the hierarchy different degrees of freedom of a mechanical system. Specifically, I want to understand which subsystems equibrilate faster and why. This question comes up:
Why ...
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1answer
114 views
Elementary derivation of the motion equations for an inverted pendulum on a cart
Consider a cart of mass $M$ constrained to move on the horizontal axis. A massless rod is attached to the midpoint of the cart, having a mass $m$ on its endpoint. See wikipedia for a picture and for a ...
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1answer
282 views
Why does a cuboid spin stably around two axes but not the third?
Let $C$ be a cuboid (rectangular parallelepiped) with edges of lengths $a < b < c$.
Consider an axis that passes through the centers of two opposite faces of $C$. There are three such axes, ...
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1answer
110 views
Can an electric motor force angular momentum not to be conserved in an isolated system?
An ice skater is in a spin, she pulls her arms in and she spins faster, she lets her arms extend outward and then she starts to slow down.
She will probably weigh on a weigh scale about the same ...
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3answers
288 views
Does a toy top weigh less when it is spinning?
I am under the understanding that a toy top will weigh less when it is spinning. The Russians made a spinning type transport back in the 70s to lessen its payload over the tundra. Is this an effective ...
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3answers
573 views
Why do rolling disc (coin) move in circular path?
We have a coin that is rolled such that it's tilted at an small angle $ \theta $.
Question:: What turns around rolling disc so that it traces circular motion (spiral as it's speed decreses)?
...
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0answers
100 views
Assume a spool rolls down a slope with its body (not its ends) in contact with the slope
I was doing a little mental exercise and imagined the above scenario. I can intuitively see that in the described case, the smaller the diameter of the spool body, the larger the proportion of the ...
2
votes
2answers
163 views
Ideal 2D Unicycle Kinematics
A particle is connected to a massive wheel by a rigid rod. The wheel can roll without slipping on a horizontal surface. The particle is free to rotate around the centre of the wheel.
I believe the ...
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vote
1answer
164 views
What controls whether a ball will skid or roll?
A billard ball is struck with a cue. The line of action of the applied impulse is horizontal and passes through the center of the ball. The initial velocity $v_0$ of the ball, its radius $R$, its mass ...
3
votes
1answer
234 views
Why do wheels appear to revolve opposite to the direction they are rotating?
When viewing cars that are driving along side of us, sometimes their wheels appear to be turning backwards even though they are traveling in the same direction as our car. Why do they look that way?
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vote
3answers
437 views
What is the principle behind centrifugation?
What is the principle behind centrifugation?
I understand the idea that you spin something around the centripetal force will cause an apparent force on the spinning system.
However I don't quite ...
2
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2answers
458 views
Meaning of angular velocity in a rotating system
When you study the motion of a rigid body you have $\vec\omega$, the vector associated to angular velocity. In the case you are using Euler angles and want a quick formula for the rotational kinetic ...
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1answer
163 views
Determining axis of rotation from angular speeds about axes
I think my pure-math head is messing with me on the question below: my physics and CS friends both seemed to think it was a simple computational thing, and my program says the method works, but now ...
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3answers
339 views
Do the rings in Mass Effect's mass relays (2-axis gimbal) describe a stable rotation?
Just out of curiosity. In the game Mass Effect, devices called mass relays contain two rotating rings, one inside of the other. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPxw5QjxhIs for an example, best seen ...
7
votes
1answer
335 views
Is this a quaternion representation of the equations of motion of General Relativity?
In The Quaternion Group and Modern Physics by P.R. Girard, the quaternion form of the general relativistic equation of motion is derived from
$du'/ds = (d a / d s ) u {a_c}^* + a u ( d {a_c}^* / ...
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0answers
247 views
How does the Commutator and Brushes causes flip? [closed]
I'm trying to make a simple electric motor just for fun project. I've reading this article to understand how an electric motor works. So far, I have been able to make something like as seen in picture ...
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2answers
380 views
In a circular pendulum, where does the equation $v=\sqrt{rg\tan{\alpha}}$ come from?
In a circular pendulum
the $v$ of the particle is $$v=\sqrt{gr\tan{\theta}}$$ where $r$ is the radius and $g$ is the gravity(positive sign), which is equal to ...
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1answer
87 views
Period of an Object in Periodic Motion
My attempt (if it matters):
The initial period is given by $T_X = \frac{2\pi X}{v}$ for some $v$.
The new period is given by $T_Y = \frac{2\pi Y}{v}$ for the same $v$.
$Y = \frac{X}{2}$, so ...
6
votes
3answers
852 views
Conservation of angular momentum for a rigid body rotating about a fixed point
Picture a rigid body such as a sledge hammer. Imagine that the base of the handle is attached to a fixed point such that it can rotate but not translate. I give the hammer a good push to get it ...
0
votes
2answers
492 views
How to interpret this vertical circular motion problem?
A bucket of water is tied to a rope and swung in a vertical circle.
The distance from the bucket centre to the axis of rotation is
$2.08m$. Calculate the angular velocity (in $rad s^{-1}$) of ...
1
vote
1answer
263 views
What techniques can be used to analyze a rod rotating about the edge of a table?
A uniform rod of length $4x$ is rotating
about the edge $O$ of the table. (The rod does not fall off the table.) The centre of mass $G$ of the rod is distance $x$ away from $O$. The rod is making ...
2
votes
1answer
417 views
Normal force in a compound pendulum (physical pundulum) system?
Consider a compound pendulum pivoted about a fixed horizontal axis, illustrated by the force diagram on the right:
#
Okay, I can't figure out where the normal force on the pendlum should point ...
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2answers
1k views
Rotational kinetic energy during vertical circular motion of a particle
Why is it not necessary to take into account rotational kinetic energy when using the Law of Conservation of Mechanical Energy to solve vertical circular motion problems? After all, the particle is ...
2
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2answers
203 views
What sustains a rigid body's rotation at its constant angular(rotational) speed?
Continuing from the following scenario from my previous question Centripetal force of a rotating rigid body? :
Consider someone pushing a roundabout in a playground. Initially the
roundabout is ...
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3answers
651 views
Centripetal force of a rotating rigid body?
Consider someone pushing a roundabout in a playground. Initially the
roundabout is stationary, but when it is pushed, it rotates with
increasing rotational speed.
The force of the push is ...
0
votes
1answer
128 views
Relationship between the “angle of the floor” and the angular velocity in a banked turn?
Wel, imagine that you're in a carousel, and the floor is, let's say at $\theta=0$ so it's totally horizontal, if $\theta=90$ the floor would be vertically.
The object put above the floordoesn't move ...
4
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1answer
207 views
How do I visualize the non-coaxial rotation of this device?
The picture below shows an isolated system with a fairly massive wheel at one end, attached via its axle to a long shaft, like a bike tire on a bike frame, but the bike frame is merely a low mass ...
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1answer
70 views
A mechanics question of finding maximum K.E [closed]
The question is in the diagram as well the diagram
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3answers
524 views
Work Done by Rockets in Orbital Motion
A weather satellite ($m_s = 4350$ kg) is in a stable circular orbit around the Earth ($m_E = 5.97 \cdot 10^{24}$ kg). It completes an orbit once every 2 and a half hours.
(I'm sure about these 2 ...
