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Angular Velocity and Momentum - Kurt Nalty

Angular Velocity and Momentum - Kurt Nalty

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The magnitude of the angular velocity per unit time is<br />

|˜ω| =<br />

|⃗a + ⃗a × ⃗v|<br />

1 + v 2 (30)<br />

Finally, note that angular velocity has the same units as energy <strong>and</strong> momentum.<br />

2 <strong>Angular</strong> <strong>Momentum</strong><br />

Classically, the angular momentum of a body is defined by<br />

⃗L = ⃗r × (m⃗v) = ⃗r × ⃗p (31)<br />

where L ⃗ is the angular momentum, m is the mass, ⃗v is the velocity, <strong>and</strong> ⃗r is<br />

the vector from the origin (usually at the axis of rotation) to the particle. The<br />

term ⃗p represents the linear momentum of the particle.<br />

I don’t want to get bogged down by speculating about mass yet, so I’ll leave<br />

m alone for the moment. Likewise, from the previous discussion of intrinsic<br />

angular velocity, I identified r as the radius of curvature r = 1/κ.<br />

The time rate of change of angular momentum is torque.<br />

⃗T = d⃗ L<br />

dt = ⃗r × (m⃗a) = ⃗r × ⃗ f (32)<br />

where ⃗ f is the force on the particle.<br />

More interesting, the curl of classical angular momentum is proportional to<br />

linear momentum.<br />

⃗∇ × ⃗ L = −2m⃗v = −2⃗p (33)<br />

When two equal opposing forces separated by a distance are applied to an<br />

object, we have a torque due to this couple.<br />

⃗T = (⃗r 1 − ⃗r 2 ) × ⃗ f (34)<br />

If we substitute the radius of curvature in the definition of ⃗ L, we obtain the<br />

rather strange looking equation<br />

This can be recognized as<br />

⃗r = 1 κ ⃗n = v2 (⃗v × (⃗a × ⃗v))<br />

|⃗a × ⃗v| 2 (35)<br />

⃗L = mv4 (⃗a × ⃗v)<br />

|⃗a × ⃗v| 2 (36)<br />

⃗L = m 1 ⃗ω<br />

κ2 (37)<br />

= m⃗r × (⃗r × ⃗ω) (38)<br />

= m⃗r × ⃗v (39)<br />

4

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