Predicting the Position of a Rotating System

Claimed by Anna Marie Whitacre

In order to provide a cohesive and detailed model of the motion of a rotating object (either subjected to a nonzero or zero torque) it is necessary to predict the position of the system.

The Main Idea

[[File:Rotating_Sphere.gif|thumb|left|200px|Rotating system. The position of a rotating system can be predicted by predicting the angle over which the object will rotate though out time. Basically, the key to finding out how much a rotating object has moved (over a specific time interval) is the angle through which it moves.

A Mathematical Model

Given that the system is indeed rotating, the update form of the Angular Momentum Principle is applied in our calculations about the the center of mass.

For example, [math]\displaystyle{ \vec{L}_{rot,f}=\vec{L}_{rot,i}+\vec{\tau}_{net}\Delta t }[/math] where [math]\displaystyle{ {L} }[/math] is rotational angular momentum and [math]\displaystyle{ \tau }[/math] is net torque from the surroundings.

A Computational Model

How do we visualize or predict using this topic. Consider embedding some vpython code here Teach hands-on with GlowScript

Examples

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