Question

An unruly student with a spitwad (a lump of wet paper) of mass 20 g in his pocket finds himself in the school library where there is a ceiling fan overhead. He relieves his boredom by throwing the spitwad up at the ceiling fan where it collides with, and sticks to, the end of one of the blades of the stationary ceiling fan. Its horizontal velocity vector is perpendicular to the long axis of the blade. If the fan is free to rotate (no friction at all) and has moment of inertia I=1.4kgm2 , if the spitwad has horizontal velocity 4 m/s, and if the spitwad sticks to the fan blade at a distance of 0.6 m from the rotation axis of the fan, how much time will it take the fan to move through one complete revolution after the spitwad hits it (closest answer)?
a. 1min
b. 2min
c. 3min
d. 4min
e. 5min
f. 6min

Answer 1

Answer:

T = 188.5 s, correct is  C

Explanation:

This problem must be worked on using conservation of angular momentum. We define the system as formed by the fan and the paper, as the system is isolated, the moment is conserved

         

initial instant. Before the crash

        L₀ = r m v₀ + I₀ w₀

the angular speed of the fan is zero w₀ = 0

final instant. After the crash

        L_f = I₀ w + m r v

        L₀ = L_f

        m r v₀ = I₀ w + m r v

angular and linear velocity are related

        v = r w

        w = v / r

        m r v₀ = I₀ v / r + m r v

         m r v₀ = (I₀ / r + mr) v

       v = $\frac{m}{\frac{I_o}{r} +mr} \ r v_o$

let's calculate

       v = $\frac{0.020}{\frac{1.4}{0.6 } + 0.020 \ 0.6 } \ 0.6 \ 4$

       v = $\frac{0.020}{2.345} \ 2.4$

       v = 0.02 m / s

         

To calculate the time of a complete revolution we can use the kinematics relations of uniform motion

        v = x / T

         T = x / v

the distance of a circle with radius r = 0.6 m

         x = 2π r

we substitute

         T = 2π r / v

let's calculate

         T = 2π 0.6/0.02

         T = 188.5 s

reduce

         t = 188.5 s ( 1 min/60 s) = 3.13 min

correct is  C