Question

State the law of conservation of angular momentum and also describe this law with an appropriate example.

Answer 1

Hint: Angular momentum is defined as the rotational equivalent of the linear momentum. It is basically an important quantity in physics as it is a conserved quantity. The total angular momentum of a closed system will always remain unchanged. This will help you in answering this question.

Complete answer:
The law of conservation of angular momentum is the law in rotational physics which says that if no external torque is experienced on a body, there will be no variation of angular momentum happening. Now let us discuss some examples of the application of angular momentum. The Earth is continuing to revolve at a constant rate since it was doing for billions of years. This is one of the examples for the conservation of angular momentum. A high diver who makes a rotation when jumping off the board will not require any physical effort to be rotating. Instead of this he would be unable to stop rotating before reaching the water. Another example of conservation of angular momentum is explained in the case of an ice skater who is doing a spin. The resultant torque on her will be very close to zero, because there will be relatively little friction between her skates and the ice and also the friction is acting very close to the pivot point.

Note:
Conservation of angular momentum is one of the prime laws of conservation in physics. This is along with the laws of conservation for energy and also linear momentum. These laws are having application even in microscopic domains which is important in quantum mechanics. They are existing because of the symmetries present in nature.