Ask a Teacher

Search



what is angular momentum?
Angular momentum, moment of momentum, or rotational momentum is a vector quantity that represents the product of a body's rotational inertia and rotational velocity about a particular axis. The angular momentum of a system of particles (e.g. a rigid body) is the sum of angular momenta of the individual particles. For a rigid body rotating around an axis of symmetry (e.g. the blades of a ceiling fan), the angular momentum can be expressed as the product of the body's moment of inertia, I, (i.e., a measure of an object's resistance to changes in its rotation velocity) and its angular velocity ?:
                      
\mathbf{L} = I \boldsymbol{\omega} \, .


comments powered by Disqus