Timeline for Doesn't Conservation of angular momentum contradict the need for a centripetal force?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| Aug 20, 2013 at 12:30 | comment | added | leftaroundabout | Well, the astronaut certainly has an endoskeleton that is able to excert some centripetal force on his limbs! But this force is not what "keeps him rotating", it's what keeps him in one piece. What keeps him rotating is simply inertia. Depending on how you look at it, gravity also doesn't keep the moon rotating, it rather keeps it from flying away. | |
| Aug 20, 2013 at 12:17 | comment | added | user28458 | Let me rephrase my question: If a torque is applied on an astronaut so that he beggins to rotate, where does the centripetal force come from that keeps him rotating? I understand for example that gravity acts as the centripetal force on the moon to keep it rotating around earth. | |
| Aug 20, 2013 at 11:48 | history | edited | leftaroundabout | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Aug 20, 2013 at 11:43 | history | answered | leftaroundabout | CC BY-SA 3.0 |