How Does Shrinking Affect the Rotation Speed of a Planet?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the effects of a planet's shrinking size on its rotation speed, specifically focusing on the conservation of angular momentum in the context of planetary motion.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants explore the relationship between the radius of a planet and its rotation speed, with one participant attempting to reverse engineer the system to find the new angular velocity after a reduction in radius. Another participant inquires about the formula for angular momentum.

Discussion Status

The discussion includes attempts to understand the underlying principles of angular momentum and its application to the problem. One participant claims to have solved the problem using a specific formula, although the details of this solution are not fully elaborated.

Contextual Notes

There appears to be some uncertainty regarding the calculations involved in determining the new rotation speed after the planet's size changes, as well as the definitions and formulas related to angular momentum.

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Homework Statement



Planet A (at X meters) completes 1 full rotation (Y sec). Planet A then shrinks to (X2 meters)
What is its rotation speed now.
Conservation of angular momentum


Homework Equations


T=2pi/w
W=V/r


The Attempt at a Solution


I found how to reverse engineer the whole system but I'm unable to calculate w for a reduced radius.
 
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What's the formula for calculating angular momentum?
 
SOLVED!
I used V1 x R1 / R2 = V2 then used the velocity of V2 against the circ of Planet A's new radius to give the answer, yipee!
 
oops!
 

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