EPHY 2143 – Engineering Physics II

Tutorial 04

Rotational Motion – Angular Momentum and Conservation

01. Find the angular momentum of following cases.

i. An object with the moment of inertia of 2 kg m2 and rotating at 1 rad/s
ii. A 2 kg cylinder pulley with radius of 0.1 m rotates at a constant angular speed of 2 rad/s.
iii. A 2 kg uniform sphere with radius of 0.2 m rotates at 4 rad/s.

02. A flywheel rotates without friction at an angular velocity ω0=600rev/min on a frictionless, vertical
shaft of negligible rotational inertia. A second flywheel, which is at rest and has a moment of inertia
three times that of the rotating flywheel, is dropped onto it (Figure 01). Because friction exists
between the surfaces, the flywheels very quickly reach the same rotational velocity, after which
they spin together.
i. Use the law of conservation of angular momentum to determine the angular velocity ω of the
combination.
ii. What fraction of the initial kinetic energy is lost in the coupling of the flywheels?

Figure 01

03. A bullet of mass m = 2.0g is moving horizontally with a speed of 500.0m/s. The bullet strikes
and becomes embedded in the edge of a solid disk of mass M = 3.2kg and radius R = 0.5m. The
cylinder is free to rotate around its axis and is initially at rest (Figure 02). What is the angular
velocity of the disk immediately after the bullet is embedded?

Figure 02
04. A horizontal circular platform of radius 0.5 m and mass 0.45 kg is free to rotate about its axis. Two
massless spring toy-guns, each carrying a steel ball of mass 0.05 kg are attached to the platform at
a distance 0.25 m from the center on its either side along its diameter (see figure 03). Each gun
simultaneously fires the balls horizontally and perpendicular to the diameter in opposite directions.
After leaving the platform, the balls have horizontal speed of 9 m/s with respect to the ground. Find
out the rotational speed of the platform in rad/s after the balls leave the platform.

Figure 03

05. A ring of mass m and radius r is rotating with angular speed ω about a fixed vertical axis passing
through its center O with two point masses, each of mass at rest at O. These masses can move
radially outwards along two massless rods fixed on the ring as shown in the figure. At some instant
the angular speed of the system is and one of the masses is at a distance of
from O. At this instant Find the distance of the other mass should be from O.

Figure 04