- #1
DocZaius
- 365
- 11
I had always thought that the concept of rotation required it being around an axis rather than a point, but now that I have been exposed to using vectors to represent rotation, I am a little confused.
Angular momentum is defined as the position vector cross the linear momentum vector. Suppose a particle is moving down the x axis, parallel with the x axis, at some height above the x-axis in a right hand coordinate system.
Its position vector measured from the origin of the coordinate system to its location would obviously change with time and yet it seems that its angular momentum should not. Evaluating angular momentum about a point (the origin) seems to make no sense to me.
If instead I evaluated the angular momentum of that particle about the x axis. I would realize that its position in regards to the x-axis does not change and I would not end up with this problem of the particle's position (from the origin) changing over time.
Another question: Which phrase below is the one that is the least ambiguous and most "correct"?
- The particle's angular momentum
- The particle's angular momentum about the origin
- The particle's angular momentum about the x axis
P.S. You don't have to address any specific concerns I have. The above was only meant to illustrate my obvious confusion. If you can think of ways of explaining to me how to look at rotation in terms of it around a point vs an axis, that would be fine, too. But if you do so, please bring up cases where the angular momentum is different based on what (point or axis) it is evaluated in regards to.
Angular momentum is defined as the position vector cross the linear momentum vector. Suppose a particle is moving down the x axis, parallel with the x axis, at some height above the x-axis in a right hand coordinate system.
Its position vector measured from the origin of the coordinate system to its location would obviously change with time and yet it seems that its angular momentum should not. Evaluating angular momentum about a point (the origin) seems to make no sense to me.
If instead I evaluated the angular momentum of that particle about the x axis. I would realize that its position in regards to the x-axis does not change and I would not end up with this problem of the particle's position (from the origin) changing over time.
Another question: Which phrase below is the one that is the least ambiguous and most "correct"?
- The particle's angular momentum
- The particle's angular momentum about the origin
- The particle's angular momentum about the x axis
P.S. You don't have to address any specific concerns I have. The above was only meant to illustrate my obvious confusion. If you can think of ways of explaining to me how to look at rotation in terms of it around a point vs an axis, that would be fine, too. But if you do so, please bring up cases where the angular momentum is different based on what (point or axis) it is evaluated in regards to.
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