Earth has a mass of 5.97×1024 kg and a radius of 6.37×106 m. The period of Earth’s rotation is 24 hours (i.e., it rotates on its axis once every 24 hours). Imagine that Earth is compressed down to half of its current radius, while its angular momentum is conserved and it retains all of its mass. Treat the Earth as a solid sphere, whose moment of inertia is
Angular Momentum
The momentum of an object is given by multiplying its mass and velocity. Momentum is a property of any object that moves with mass. The only difference between angular momentum and linear momentum is that angular momentum deals with moving or spinning objects. A moving particle's linear momentum can be thought of as a measure of its linear motion. The force is proportional to the rate of change of linear momentum. Angular momentum is always directly proportional to mass. In rotational motion, the concept of angular momentum is often used. Since it is a conserved quantity—the total angular momentum of a closed system remains constant—it is a significant quantity in physics. To understand the concept of angular momentum first we need to understand a rigid body and its movement, a position vector that is used to specify the position of particles in space. A rigid body possesses motion it may be linear or rotational. Rotational motion plays important role in angular momentum.
Moment of a Force
The idea of moments is an important concept in physics. It arises from the fact that distance often plays an important part in the interaction of, or in determining the impact of forces on bodies. Moments are often described by their order [first, second, or higher order] based on the power to which the distance has to be raised to understand the phenomenon. Of particular note are the second-order moment of mass (Moment of Inertia) and moments of force.
Earth has a mass of 5.97×1024 kg and a radius of 6.37×106 m. The period of Earth’s rotation is 24 hours (i.e., it rotates on its axis once every 24 hours). Imagine that Earth is compressed down to half of its current radius, while its
I = 25 M R 2 .
(a) What is the final rotation period, in hours?
(b) What is the change in Earth’s rotational kinetic energy during this process? Give your answer in units of Joules.
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