Why do we use L for Angular Momentum?

[PennDreamer]

Why do we use L for angular momentum? Why not M or some other letters?

 

[Winzer]

Because it is secretly called Langular momentum.

Not really.

That's a good question, I'm sure it's a convention that has it's story.

 

[alxm]

Well, it's not a letter Newton used.
It's not an abbreviation of the words for 'angular momentum' in French or German.

I've got "Traité de physique" by Biot at home. Maybe I can find it there. (it helped me find out why the magnetic field is 'B')

 

[confinement]

Perhaps it stands for Leonhard Euler, "the master of us all" whose description of rotational kinematics is still in use today.

 

[Bob S]

Why do we use L for angular momentum? Why not M or some other letters?

In my mechanics book (Theoretical Mechanics, Becker, 1954), J is used as the vector cross product of r and m dr/dt (hence angular momentum), and L is used as dJ/dt (hence torque). Later on, L is used as the Lagrangian L= T - V, and H as the Hamiltonian H = T + V.

 

[Ofey]

Because it is secretly called Langular momentum.

Not really.

That's a good question, I'm sure it's a convention that has it's story.

I am sorry if this is considered as spam and I shall take the fall for that. This was too good of a joke to forgotten just like that. Great!

 

[Dr.D]

I think it is just an arbitrary choice that some one made. When I was in school we used h for angular momentum in classical physics. It really makes no difference as long as you define your symbols, which very few people here do.