Force acting during rotating a disc

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the forces acting on a rotating disc, particularly focusing on the torque, angular momentum, and force distribution when a person rotates the disc using their arm. The scope includes theoretical considerations of mechanics and the physics of spinning objects.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes a scenario where a disc is initially at rest, with zero torque and angular momentum, and then discusses the effects of applying a force to rotate the disc.
  • Another participant critiques the clarity of the initial description, suggesting it lacks scientific rigor and calls for a more concise presentation of the problem.
  • A participant questions the idea that tangential forces from opposite points on the disc cancel each other out, noting that arm muscles must perform non-zero work when rotating the disc, implying that the overall force cannot be zero.
  • A mathematical expression is introduced to describe the relationship between work, force, velocity, angular velocity, and torque, specifically considering the center of the disc as a reference point.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on the clarity and correctness of the initial observations. There is no consensus on the validity of the claims regarding force cancellation and the nature of work done during rotation.

Contextual Notes

Some assumptions about the forces acting on the disc, such as neglecting gravity and friction, are not explicitly stated as limitations. The discussion also involves unresolved mathematical relationships and the implications of force distribution.

ussername
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Take a disc that can rotate with respect to the rotation axis. For simplicity, let's assume that its mass is homogeneously distributed along the rotation axis, and gravity and frictional forces do not act on the disk.

In the first case, the disc does not rotate. All elements of the disk have zero force elements. The torque and angular momentum of a disc are zero vectors.

In the latter case, a man rotates the disc with his arm. This means that a person acts on the disc elements with non-zero force elements that are perpendicular to the elements positioning vectors from the rotation axis. Thus, when the disc is rotated, there is a nonzero torque of the disc, that is, the angular momentum of the disk is changing.

After spinning the disc with nonzero angular velocity, only elements of centrifugal forces that are parallel to the position vectors act on all of the disc elements, and the resultant torque of disc is zero. The angular momentum of the rotated disc is not changing, and it is a non-zero vector.

Are these considerations correct?


When I imagine that a person acts on the disk with a tangential force, I find that the elements of the tangential forces of every two points of the disc with the opposite position vectors are substracted, and the total force acting on the disk is zero. Is that so? Why?
 
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Some of your observations might be correct and some not but your description of the problem is so rambling and unscientific that it is hard to tell for sure .

Please sort out your ideas and then post a nice concise description of the problem with clear diagrams so that we can discuss this matter properly .

The physics of spinning disks is quite an interesting topic to explore .
 
Ok let's discuss the force distribution when rotating the disc with your arm:
eHyzmIs.jpg


ussername said:
When I imagine that a person acts on the disk with a tangential force, I find that the elements of the tangential forces of every two points of the disc with the opposite position vectors are substracted, and the total force acting on the disk is zero. Is that so?

But from my experience arm muscles should do nonzero mechanical work dW=F*dl when rotating disc so the overall force could not be zero from this point of view.
 
Let ##A## be a body fixed point. Then
$$\frac{dW}{dt}=(\boldsymbol F,\boldsymbol v_A)+(\boldsymbol\omega,\boldsymbol M_A);$$
here ##\boldsymbol F## is a net force applied to the rigid body;
##\boldsymbol v_A## is velocity of the point A;
##\boldsymbol\omega## is angular velocity;
##\boldsymbol M_A## is net torque about the point A.

Now for the point A choose the center of your disk
 

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