The Science of Spinning
Thursday, October 9, 2008 - 11:56
in Physics & Chemistry
Why does a spinning skater speed up when she pulls her arms closer to her body? It's the same phenomenon that causes the carousel in the video to rotate faster when the students move towards the center. And that phenomenon is in fact one of the fundamental principles of physics, known around the planet as "conservation of momentum." Here, in particular, we have a beautiful demonstration of conservation of angular momentum. read more