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FahimP
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Homework Statement
The Earth has an angular speed of 7.272 10-5 rad/s in its rotation. Find the new angular speed if an asteroid (m = 1.17 1022 kg) hits the Earth while traveling at a speed of 1.41 103 m/s. The asteroid hits the Earth dead center.We are just learning physics so this is all basics... we are ignoring friciton right now. I suppose this is just a basic angular momentum conservaton problem but I am having difficulty understanding it.
The Attempt at a Solution
I used the angular momentum conservation and this is what i have. I got stuck at the last part and I'm pretty confident i am right so far but i don't know what's next . Please help / advice / tips
My problem is that there are too many unknowns and I'm not sure if anything cancels .. do I need a second Equation ?
Ra= Radius of asteroid
Re = radius of earth
Me = Mas of Earth
Ma = mass of asteroid
Wf = Final speed
We= Initial angular speed of Earth
Wa = initial angular speed of asteroid
Lao + Leo = Laf + Lef
MaRa^2 Wf + 2/5MeRe^2 Wf = MaRaVa + 2/5 MeRe^2We
Wf( MaR^2 + 2/5MeR^2) = MaVaRa + 2/5 MeRe^2We
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