Quick question about a man running on a Merry-go-round

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A man running on the edge of a frictionless carousel will not run in place; instead, he will exert a torque that causes the carousel to rotate. The conservation of rotational momentum must account for both the man and the carousel, meaning that as the man runs, the system's total momentum remains constant. If the man runs perpendicularly, he will indeed influence the carousel's rotation, leading to a change in its angular velocity. The discussion highlights the need to analyze special cases, such as the carousel's mass and inertia, to fully understand the dynamics at play. Overall, the conservation of momentum in this system is complex and requires careful consideration of forces and motion.
ecoo
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Hey there,

If a man is on the edge of a carousel and starts to run perpendicularly to cause a torque on the carousel (no friction on axis of rotation), will the man be running in place? And if he is running in place, how is rotational momentum conserved of the man-carousel system?

I think that the man will run in place, and so I'm not sure how rotational momentum is conserved.

Thanks!
 
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The reason I am confused about the conservation of rotational momentum is because if the man is running in place and not moving, then only the carousel will be turning and so there will be rotational momentum, whereas initially there was none when both the man and carousel were at rest.
 
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ecoo said:
... to cause a torque on the carousel ...
ecoo said:
...only the carousel will be turning...
Will it be turning at the same rate?
 
ecoo said:
I think that the man will run in place
That is only true for a special case...
And in that case the carousel has no rotational inertia...
draw a free body diagram and apply Newtons laws.
Consider the two special cases; where the carousel has infinite mass and where it is weightless
 
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