Lesson: The Conservation of Angular Momentum Physics

Students will be able to

• understand that angular momentum is conserved in closed systems,
• calculate the resulting angular momentum of an object that experiences a torque as a reaction to another object in the system experiencing a torque in the other direction,
• use to calculate the angular velocity of an object that has accelerated due to a reaction torque,
• realize that the moment of inertia of an object determines the extent to which it is accelerated as a result of a reaction torque and that this is why even though Earth spins under us as we move across it, we do not notice it,
• understand that angular momentum is conserved in orbital systems.