Angular momentum

Angular momentum for a single particle Angular momentum of a system of particles Rigid body Angular velocity Examples illustrating angular velocity Parallel axis theorem Angular momentum of a rigid body Examples of angular momentum calculations <provide link to all of them>
I. ANGULAR MOMENTUM FOR A SINGLE PARTICLE

Angular momentum is always dened about a point in any frame of reference, inertial or noninertial. Consider a particle of mass m located at position r with relative to a point O. Then the angular momentum of the particle about O is L = r p, where p is the linear momentum of the particle. Let us take the time derivative of L : dL dp = r . dt dt In an inertial frame dp/dt = F, hence, dL = r F. dt We call r F as torque and denote it by N. Hence, in an inertial frame dL = N. dt If the torque, N, on the particle is zero, then the angular momentum L is a constant. This law is called the Conservation of angular momentum. The force is radial in Keplers problem<link>. If we choose the origin of the central force as the reference point, then the torque on the planet about the origin is zero. Consequently angular momentum measured wrt the central point is conserved for the central potentials.
II. ANGULAR MOMENTUM OF A SYSTEM OF PARTICLES

Angular momentum is an additive quantity like energy and linear momentum. Therefore, for a system of particles, the angular momentum is L=
a

ra pa ,

where ra and pa denote the position vector and the linear momentum of the a-th particle respectively. Let us rst derive angular momentum of an object about its center of mass (CM)<link>. Let us denote ra and pa as the position and the linear momentum of the ath particle of the body in the inertial frame I , and r a and pa as corresponding quantities in the CM frame <insert gure>. In the inertial frame I , the total angular momentum of the body about its origin is L =
a

ra pa
(RCM + r a ) (PCM + pa ) r a pa

=
a

= RCM PCM +

= RCM PCM + LCM ,

(1)

Lo
X

V CM

A
Figure 1: Rolling wheel: the angular momentum of the CM, L0 , point into the paper. <animate>

where LCM is the angular momentum of the body about the CM. Hence the total angular momentum of system of particle is the sum of angular momentum of the CM and the angular momentum wrt the CM. We will illustrate this theorem using several examples. Examples: 1. A rolling wheel: When a wheel rolls without slipping on a straight line, its angular momentum can be split into two parts: the angular momentum of the CM of the wheel, and the angular momentum of the wheel about the CM. If we take point A shown in Fig. 1 as the reference point, then the angular momentum of the CM about , where M and R are the mass and the radius of the wheel respectively. The angular A is L0 = M RVCM z momentum of the wheel wrt its CM will be computed later in this chapter. 2. Sun-Earth system: Let us write down the angular momentum of the Sun-Earth system with relative to the center of galaxy in the galaxy reference frame (inertial frame). If the coordinate and linear momentum of the CM of the Sun-Earth system is RCM and PCM , and the plane of the motion of the Earth-Sun is the xy plane, then the angular momentum of the Sun-Earth system wrt the center of galaxy in the galaxy frame is is the angular where is the reduced mass of the system, r is the distance between the Sun and the Earth, and velocity of the Earth around the Sun. Here the spin of the Earth has been ignored. <animate motion of the Earth>. The time derivative of the angular momentum of a system of particle is dL = dt =
a

z, L = RCM PCM + r2

ra Fa ra Fa,ext + ra Fa,ext +
a b

ra fa,b (ra fa,b + rb fb,a ), (2)

=
a

where fa,b is the internal force on the ath particle due to the bth particle as shown in Fig. 2. According to Newtons third law, fa,b = fb,a . Therefore, dL = dt
a

ra Fa,ext +

(ra rb ) fa,b .

We assume that fa,b is along rab . This condition is called the strong form of Newtons third law ; the action and reaction forces are not only equal and opposite, but they are along the line joining the two particles. Under this condition, the total internal torque (the second term) vanishes. a ra Fa,ext is the total external torque on the system. Hence, dL = Next . dt (3)

The internal torques do not contribute to the net torque. If Next = 0, then L is a constant. That is, if the net torque on a system of particles is zero, then the total angular momentum of the system is conserved. This is the statement of the conservation of angular momentum for a system of particles.

Figure 2: Internal forces between particles a and b.

Figure 3: Eulers angles <gures required><animation better of the rigid body>

III.

RIGID BODY

A rigid body is one in which the relative distance between any pair of points remains constant. The shape and size of this body is unchanged irrespective of the force applied. A large force can change the dimension of any real body due to elasticity. However these changes are assumed to be negligible for rigid bodies. An Example of a rigid body is a steel ball for a moderate external force. Any motion of a rigid body can be split in two parts: (a) translation of the CM, and (b) rotation about the CM. During the translation, all the points of the body move by a constant distance. As an example consider a ball thrown by a bowler. The motion consists of translation of the CM of the ball, and the rotation of the ball about the CM. The specication of the CM requires three coordinates say (X, Y, Z ), and the rotation about the CM requires three angles. Visualization of rotation of a rigid body is a bit complex. One way to specify rotation is the following: First locate the axis of rotation, which requires two angles and with relative to the original coordinate system (see Fig. 3). is the angle between the rotation axis and the vertical (z) axis, and is the angle between the projection of the rotation axis and the x axis. After xing the rotation axis at the above conguration, we rotate the rigid body about the rotation axis by an angle . These three angles are called Euler angles <link>. Thus a general motion of a rigid body can be specied by six variables (X, Y, Z, , , ). Note that the rotation about a xed axis can be specied by one angle. However, when the rotation axis itself revolves, then the angles and provide the orientation of the rotation axis, and provides us the angle of rotation about the axis. We need six coordinates to specify the conguration of rigid body: three for space translation, and three angles for the orientation of the rigid body. The angular velocity of a rigid body is a combination of time derivatives of the above angles. In general the rotation of a rigid body could be quite complex. In the following discussion we will provide a denition of angular velocity.
IV. ANGULAR VELOCITY About a xed axis

Imagine a planar body rotating about an axis passing through point O as shown in Fig. 4. We mark a line on the body, say OA. The conguration of the body is specied by an angle between line OA and a reference axis, say x , and its direction is in axis. In Fig. 4 this angle is denoted by . The angular velocity of the body is quantied by the direction of the axis of rotation. By convention the counter-clockwise rotation is considered to be positive. The displacement of a point on the rigid body is function of angular velocity . Suppose a rigid body is rotating with angular velocity wrt z axis as shown in Fig. 5, For the point P in Fig. 5, the angle traversed d in a small time dt is dt. The displacement of the point P in a small time interval dt is d r = ( r)dt. Therefore the

A O f A

Figure 4: A planar body is rotating about an axis passing through O. The rotation of the body is measured by an angle a line on the body makes wrt a reference axis.

Figure 5: Displacement of a point P of a rigid body under rotation.

instantaneous linear velocity of point P is r. The angular velocity of a rigid body is the same for all the points on the rigid body. This theorem can be proved by the following arguments. Suppose a rigid body is rotating about a vertical axis passing through point O of Fig. 6. Let us consider two points on the rigid body O and A as shown in the gure. The velocity of point A is VA = O r = O (a + r ) = VO + O r . (4)

A r o a r o

Figure 6: Angular velocity of a rigid body about any point is the same. Here we show the equality of for two reference points O and O .

Wz

Wx x

Figure 7: A wobbling frisbee has angular velocity z along z axis, and x along x axis. <animate>

But the velocity of point A is the sum of velocities of O and the velocity of point A wrt O . That is, VA = VO + O r , (5)

where O is the angular velocity of the body wrt point O . Comparing Eqs. (4, 5) we can deduce that O = O . That is, the angular velocity about both points O and O are the same. Physically, in time dt the line OA rotates by an angle O dt wrt a xed reference axis. The line O A rotates by the same angle in time dt wrt the xed reference axis (convince yourself). Thus we prove that angular velocity about any point in a rigid body is the same.
About variable axis

In many situations the rotation axis is not xed, for example, for moving cricket ball, rolling wheel etc. For a wheel rolling on a straight line, the axis moves in a straight line. In these systems too, the angular velocity of the rigid body about any point in the body is the same. As an example, the angular velocities of a wheel about the CM and about the bottom-most point are the same. In many situations we nd that the velocity of all the points on a straight line is zero. For the rotation about a xed axis, this line happens to be axis itself. It turns out that we can nd this line for any moving rigid body. For example, for a rolling wheel, the the axis passing through the bottom-most point has zero velocity. This axis is called the instantaneous axis of rotation. For the rotation about one axis, the angular velocity is along the axis of rotation. A general rotation however could be more complex. A frisbee spins as well as wobbles. If we choose axis perpendicular to the frisbee plane as z axis, and wobble axis as x axis as shown in Fig. 7 then . + z z = x x Sometimes the angular velocity of a body could be quite confusing. We illustrate several important examples to clarify salient concepts regarding angular velocity.
V. EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATING ANGULAR VELOCITY

1. A rolling wheel: Assume the radius of the wheel to be R. The motion of the wheel can be seen as a combination of a translation the wheel by a distance a, and a rotation about the CM by an angle a/R. 2. A coin (C2 ) rolling over another coin (C1 ) of the same radius: When coin C2 moves from conguration to conguration (see Fig. 8), line O2 A has moved an angle . We can divide this rotation in two parts: (a) the line joining centers of C1 and C2 rotate by an angle /2. This part is called an orbital rotation. If coin C2 slided rather than rolled over, we would have had only orbital rotation, and lines O1 A and O2 A would have moved by an angle /2 only. (b) Due to the rolling of coin C2 , line O2 A makes an additional rotation of angle /2. This is called spin. Hence the net rotation of coin C2 is the sum of orbital rotation and spin.

b
C B O2 B C A O2 D C D O2 A O1 A A B

a
O2 C

B
Figure 8: Coin C2 rolling over coin C1 without slipping. <animate>

Fixed stars s

O P

Figure 9: Motion of the Earth around the Sun.

Since the radius of both the coins are the same, we obtain Orbit = Spin (prove it). traversed by line O2 A is N et = Orbit + Spin = 2Orbit .

The total angle

When coin C2 returns to the original spot after Orbit = 2 , line O2 A has covered N et = 4 , which corresponds to two complete revolutions of coin C2 . See Fig. 8 for an illustration of motion of four points ABCD and line O2 A. 3. Earth-Sun system: In one year (365.24 solar days), the center of the Earth returns to its original position. Hence in one year the Earth completes an orbital motion of 2 radian, and the spin of 2 365.24 radian. Consider a point P on the surface of the Earth (see Fig. 9). It is the closest point on the Earth to the Sun in the rst conguration. After one solar day it will again be the closest to the Sun. The duration is 24 hours or a solar day. This is how a solar day is dened. Note however that in one solar day, the line OP has rotated by = 2 + 2 . 365.24

7 Hence the angular velocity of the Earth is = 2 366.24 = = 7.29 105 /s . 24 hours 365.25 86400 365.24 24 hours 23h56m. 366.24

A Sidereal day is the time required for the line OP to rotate by 2 . Using the above discussion we conclude that TSidereal =

After discussing angular velocity, we move on to computation of kinetic energy of a rigid body.
VI. KINETIC ENERGY OF A RIGID BODY

The total kinetic energy of a mechanical system is the sum of kinetic energy of CM and the kinetic energy wrt CM <link>. If a rigid body is rotating with angular velocity , then the kinetic energy of the rigid body is T = where Trot = For rotation about a xed axis, say z -axis Trot = 1 ma ( ra )2 2 1 )2 2 xa x = ma (ya y z 2 1 2 2 ma (ya + x2 = ( a ))z 2 1 = Izz 2 z, 2 1 2 ma ( ra )2 . 1 2 M VCM + Trot , 2

2 where ma (ya + x2 a ) = Izz is called the moment of inertia about z axis. The above expression is valid only for + z + y y z the rotational kinetic rotation about z axis. For an arbitrary rotation with angular velocity = x x energy is

Trot =

1 ma ( ra )2 2 1 ma [(y za z ya )2 + (z xa x za )2 = 2 +(x ya y xa )2 ] 1 Iij i j = 2 i j

where i, j can take values x, y, z , and Ixx = Iyy = Izz =

Ixy = Iyx = Iyz = Izy = Ixz = Izx =

ma xa ya ma y a z a ma xa za .

y x

Figure 10: Axes x, y, z are the symmetry axes of a cylinder.

The quantity Iij is called the moment of inertia of the rigid body. It is a nine component object with Iij = Iji . This object is an example of second-rank tensor, and it has been discussed elsewhere <link>. If we choose our axes to be the symmetry axes of the rigid body, then Ixy = Iyz = Izx = 0, and we obtain Trot = 1 1 1 2 2 Ixx 2 x + Iyy y + Izz z . 2 2 2

Because of the above simplication, the symmetry axes of a rigid body is very important and convenient for calculations. These axes are also called the principal axes. We state a theorem without proof: We can always nd three symmetry axes for any rigid body. As an example we illustrate the principal axes of a uniform cylinder shown in Fig. 10. One of the axes is the axis of the cylinder, and the other two axes are horizontal axes passing through the CM. Let us compute moment of inertial of a cylinder about its principal axes. Suppose that the mass density of the cylinder is , and the radius and the height of the cylinder are R and H respectively. About the vertical axis, the moment of inertia Izz is Izz = = (x2 + y 2 )dr (2 )dddz R4 4

= 2H =

1 M R2 . 2

9 Similarly Ixx = = = (y 2 + z 2 )dr (2 + z 2 2 cos2 )dddz d3 d sin2 dz + z 2 dddz

= H

1 R4 + R2 H 3 4 12 1 1 = M R2 + M H 2 . 4 12

Due to x-y symmetry Iyy = Ixx and Ixy = Iyz = Izx = 0. A Disc is a special case of a cylinder where H R. Hence, for a disk Izz = Ixx 1 M R2 2 1 = Iyy = M R2 . 4

The moment of inertia of a thin cylinder (R H ) is Izz = 0 Ixx = Iyy = 1 M H 2. 12

Using a similar calculation we can show that the moment of inertia of a sphere about its symmetric axis is (2/5)M R2 , where M and R are the mass and the radius of the sphere. The moment of inertia of a cube about any of its symmetry axes is (1/6)M a2 where a is the side of the cube. If a disk is spinning about its vertical axis passing through its CM with angular frequency , then its kinetic energy will be T = For a frisbee, the angular velocity in general is + z + y y z, = x x hence its kinetic energy is T = 1 1 1 2 2 2 M R2 (2 x + y ) + M R z . 2 4 2
PARALLEL AXIS THEOREM

1 1 Izz 2 = M R2 2 . 2 4

VII.

In the last section we studied the moment of inertia about the symmetry axes of a rigid body. However on many occasions we need to compute the moment of inertia about some other axis. Parallel axis theorem provides us the moment of inertia about any axis parallel to the principal axis. According to the Parallel axis theorem, The moment of inertia about an axis (z ) that is a distance a away and parallel to the symmetry axis (say z axis) is

10

y (x,y) o
a x o x y

Figure 11: Parallel axis theorem

Izz = Izz,CM + M a2 ,

(6)

where Izz,CM is the moment of inertia about the axis passing through the CM, and Izz is the moment of inertia about the new axis.

Proof: Without any loss of generality we can choose the new vertical axis to pass a point O on the x axis as shown in the Fig. 11. The moment of inertia about the new axis is
Izz = 2 2 ma (x a + ya ) 2 ma [(xa a)2 + ya ] 2 2 ma (x2 a + ya ) + a 2

= =

ma 2 a

ma xa

= Izz,CM + M a . Hence proved! As an example, the moment of inertia of a wheel about the bottom-most point is
I3 =

1 3 M R2 + M R2 = M R2 . 2 2

VIII.

ANGULAR MOMENTUM OF A RIGID BODY

The angular momentum of a rigid body about a reference point is L = ra pa ra ma ( ra ) =

where is the angular velocity of the rigid body. Note that the reference point need not be the CM. In terms of components Lx = Ixx x + Ixy y + Ixz z , Ly = Iyx x + Iyy y + Iyz z , Lz = Izx x + Izy y + Izz z , (7) (8) (9)

where Iij are the moment of inertia of the rigid body dened in the previous section. We can also write Eqs. (7-9) in tensor notation as Li =
j

Iij j .

11 The above formulas are valid for any point of reference. The center of mass is often a convenient reference point for many angular momentum calculations. As discussed in Sec. VI, Ixy , Ixz , Iyz are zero for symmetric axes. Hence, with the choice of symmetric axes as our reference axes, the angular momentum of the rigid body is , + Izz z z + Iyy y y L = Ixx x x (10)

, y , and z are unit vectors along the principal axes. where x Equation (10) is the equation of rotational kinematics. We can derive many important properties of mechanical system using this law. The angular momentum L is in general not parallel to . L and are parallel only when 1. Ixx = Iyy = Izz = I (valid for a sphere or a cube) where L = I 2. is along one of the principal axis. For example, if x = y = 0 and z = 0, then L = Izz . The form of Eqs. (7-9) is similar to pi = mvi . However, there are several crucial dierences between these two equations: (1) The proportionality constant between the angular momentum and the angular velocity is a tensor, while the proportionality constant between the linear momentum and the linear velocity is a scalar (mass). (2) The angular momentum depends on the choice of origin, which is not the case for the linear momentum. The above dierences are very important. We have to be careful while solving rotation problems. In the following discussion we illustrate angular momentum calculations using several examples.
IX. EXAMPLES OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM CALCULATIONS

1. A rolling wheel: Imagine a wheel of mass M and radius R rolling without slipping with angular velocity . The angular momentum of the wheel about its CM is LCM = I = 1 M R 2 . 2

where I is the moment of inertial of the wheel about the axis passing through the CM (center of the wheel). Therefore the angular momentum of the wheel about point A of Fig. 1 is LA = RCM PCM + LCM or LA = 1 3 = M R2 M R2 + M R2 z z. 2 2

The angular momentum of the wheel about the bottom-most point is same as above. We could also compute LB about the bottom-most point using parallel axis theorem: 3 1 LB = IB = (M R2 + M R2 ) = M R2 . 2 2 We have used the theorem that angular velocity of all the points on a rigid body is same. 2. A coin rolling over another coin of the same radius: See Fig. 8 for illustration. The angular momentum of coin C2 about the center of the xed coin (C1 ) is L = RCM PCM + LCM 1 = (2R M 2ROrbit + M R2 spin ) z, 2 9 . M R2 spin z 2 r p with v = VCM + v .

where R is the radius of each coin. Since orbit = spin , the net angular momentum is L= We can also derive the above expression using L =

12

Figure 12: A rod, which is inclined from the vertical axis by an angle , is rotating about the vertical axis with angular velocity .

3. Earth-Sun: The angular momentum of the Earth wrt the center of the Sun is 2 L = mr2 z + mR2 S s, 5 where m is the mass of the Earth, r is the Earth-Sun distance, is the orbital angular velocity, R is the radius of the Earth, S is the spin angular velocity of the Earth. Note that the spin angular momentum is inclined by 23.5 degrees from the perpendicular to the orbital plane. From the observed data = S 2 rad/s 365.25 86400 2 = rad/s. 86400

4. Rod making an angle with the rotating axis: The conguration of the rod is shown in Fig. 12. The angular velocity of the rod is along AA axis. To compute the angular momentum of the rod we resolve along the principal axes as + z z. = x x Therefore the angular momentum of the rod is . + Izz z z L = Ixx x x Clearly L and are not in the same direction. 5. Torque-free precession of a wobbling top and a frisbee: A sphere or cube has Ixx = Iyy = Izz . However this symmetry is not obeyed by many rigid bodies. The rigid bodies for which Ixx = Iyy = I33 are called tops. Imagine that a top is spinning with angular velocity S in free space, and it has angular momentum L. If the angular momentum and angular velocity are in the same direction, the top will spin happily in the direction of L. However if the direction of L and S are not in the same direction, then the top starts to precess for the reason discussed below. As shown in Fig. 13(a), the rigid body has angular momentum L along z axis, and is inclined with relative to z axis. The precession angular velocity is P , hence = S + P = (S + P cos ) z + P sin x . + x x = z z

13

Figure 13: (a) Torque-free precession of a wobbling top. (b) Torque-free precession of a wobbling frisbee. <animate>

The net angular momentum can be resolved along principal axes as Lx = L sin = Ixx x Lz = L cos = Izz z The above equations yield x = z Also, P = x L , = sin Ixx Izz , Ixx (11) (12) L sin Lx = , Ixx Ixx L cos Lz = = Izz Izz

S = z P cos = z 1 or S = P cos Note that S = z . Ixx 1 . Izz

(13)

There are two types of tops: (a) thin top: Ixx > Izz (e.g., the tops children play with), (b) at top: Ixx < Izz (e.g., frisbee). For tops of type (a), according to Eq. (13) P and S have the same sign, while for the tops of type (b), P and S have dierent signs (see Fig. 13(b)) When we apply the above equations to spinning frisbee (Ixx = Izz /2), we nd that S = P cos . 2

14 For small , S = P /2; that is, the frisbee precesses twice as fast as it spins. The sense of precession and spin are also opposite. For = 450 , S = z L L cos = 2Ixx 2 2Ixx = S .

With these discussions we close our discussion on angular momentum. This covers various aspects of rotational kinematics. One of the main point to remember is that the angular momentum depends on the point of reference, and it need not be in the same direction as angular velocity.