What Happens to Angular Speed When Moment of Inertia Increases?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the effect of an increase in moment of inertia on the angular speed of a spinning disk. Initially, a large flat disk with a moment of inertia I spins at 18 rad/s. When a small object lands on the disk, the moment of inertia increases to 1.5I. The incorrect conclusion drawn was that the new angular speed would be 27 rad/s, calculated using the formula L=Iω. The correct application of the conservation of angular momentum indicates that the angular speed actually decreases when the moment of inertia increases.

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A large flat disk with moment of inertia I is spinning with angular speed 18 rad/s
a small object lands on the disk and changes the moment of inertia to 1.5I

what is the new speed?

i used L=I[tex]\omega[/tex] to give me 18*1.5=27 rad/s

i used this because L is the angular momentum of the disk and has a relationship with the angular speed.

Is this correct?
 
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ghostbuster25 said:
A large flat disk with moment of inertia I is spinning with angular speed 18 rad/s
a small object lands on the disk and changes the moment of inertia to 1.5I

what is the new speed?

i used L=I[tex]\omega[/tex] to give me 18*1.5=27 rad/s

i used this because L is the angular momentum of the disk and has a relationship with the angular speed.

Is this correct?

Do you have an equation showing the conservation of angular momentum ie the angular momentum before and after the object lands on the disk? If the moment of Inertia of the item with angular momentum increases, should the angular speed also increase? don't think so...
 
Last edited:


ghostbuster25 said:
A large flat disk with moment of inertia I is spinning with angular speed 18 rad/s
a small object lands on the disk and changes the moment of inertia to 1.5I

what is the new speed?

i used L=I[tex]\omega[/tex] to give me 18*1.5=27 rad/s

i used this because L is the angular momentum of the disk and has a relationship with the angular speed.

Is this correct?

I think answer is incorrect.
By the law of conservation of momentum,
disk initial momentum+object initial momentum =(disk+object) final momentum
object initial momentum is zero.
 

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