- #1
tomwilliam
- 144
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If you have a roundabout spinning with a man standing on it close to the centre, and then he walks out towards the edge of the roundabout, angular momentum is conserved, but kinetic energy is not (the roundabout rotates with a smaller angular speed). I'd like to know where the kinetic energy in this system goes to. Is the changed moment of inertia of the system some kind of equivalent to potential energy? As far as I know, ignoring all resistive forces, if the man returns to original position the kinetic energy will be as it was to start with. So surely energy is not being created or destroyed...surely there must be a constant total mechanical energy here, right?
Thanks in advance
Tom
Thanks in advance
Tom