Negative Angular Velocity: Is It a Change in Direction?

[NotaPhysicsMan]

Ok,

If my angular velocity is negative, does that mean I've stopped and now changing directions in terms of my movement?

Thanks.

 

[brat-sampson]

Angular velocity is rate of change of angle about a fixed point, so if it's negative it means you're now moving around the point in the opposite direction.

 

[NotaPhysicsMan]

Ok, so let's say my calculation came to:

120 degrees=+2.02 rad/s
150 degrees=-0.60 rad/s

Does this mean that in between this point, I stopped my movement in the positive and now am traveling in the opposing direction? So angular acceleartion doesn't really tell me if it has changed direction. Just tells me if it's slowing down or increasing.

 

[brat-sampson]

150 degrees should give more radians than 120 degrees. It's just measured on a different scale so that shouldn't cause it to become negative.

Try using google if the conversion isn't working out too well.