Question

A girl (mass M) standing on the edge of a frictionless merry-go-round (radius R, rotational inertia I) that is not moving. She throws a rock (mass m) in a horizontal direction that is tangent to the outer edge of the merry-go-round. The speed of the rock, relative to the ground, is v. Calculate (a) the angular speed of the merry-go- round and (b) the linear speed of the girl after the rock is thrown.

Answer 1

a) $\omega=\frac{-mvR}{I+MR^2}$

b) $v=\frac{-mvR^2}{I+MR^2}$

Explanation:

a)

Since there are no external torques acting on the system, the total angular momentum must remain constant.

At the beginning, the merry-go-round and the girl are at rest, so the initial angular momentum is zero:

$L_1=0$

Later, after the girl throws the rock, the angular momentum will be:

$L_2=(I_M+I_g)\omega +L_r$

where:

$I$ is the moment of inertia of the merry-go-round

$I_g=MR^2$ is the moment of inertia of the girl, where

M is the mass of the girl

R is the distance of the girl from the axis of rotation

$\omega$ is the angular speed of the merry-go-round and the girl

$L_r=mvR$ is the angular momentum of the rock, where

m is the mass of the rock

v is its velocity

Since the total angular momentum is conserved,

$L_1=L_2$

So we find:

$0=(I+I_g)\omega +mvR\\\omega=\frac{-mvR}{I+MR^2}$

And the negative sign indicates that the disk rotates in the direction opposite to the motion of the rock.

b)

The linear speed of a body in rotational motion is given by

$v=\omega r$

where

$\omega$ is the angular speed

r is the distance of the body from the axis of rotation

In this problem, for the girl, we have:

$\omega=\frac{-mvR}{I+MR^2}$ is the angular speed

$r=R$ is the distance of the girl from the axis of rotation

Therefore, her linear speed is:

$v=\omega R=\frac{-mvR^2}{I+MR^2}$