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-   -   Merry Go Round Physics Questions (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=524960)

  • Nov 11, 2010, 11:19 AM
    heyyalliee
    Merry Go Round Physics Questions
    OK this one has me totally stumped. My teacher attempted to explain it in class and it made me even more confused.

    Given:A child of mass m stands at rest near the rim of a stationary merry-go-round of radius R and moment of inertia I. The child now begins to walk around the circumference of the merry-go-round with a tangential speed v with respect to the merry-go-round's surface.
    Questions:What is the child's speed with respect to the ground?
    Express your answer in terms of some or all of the variables m, R, I, and v.
    Next it asks me to check the result in the limits I to 0.

    I am LOST! Help?

    Thanks.
  • Nov 11, 2010, 01:35 PM
    ebaines

    Use conservation of angular mometum. Let = rotational velocity of the merry-go-round, and be the rotational velocity of the child. Then:



    The velocity of the child relative to the merry-go-round is v, so:



    Rearrange, and shove back into the first equation:



    And his speed with respect to the ground is :


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