Courses
Courses for Kids
Free study material
Offline Centres
More
Store Icon
Store
seo-qna
SearchIcon
banner

What is angular momentum?

Answer
VerifiedVerified
414.3k+ views
like imagedislike image
Hint: Linear momentum, often known as translational momentum or simply momentum, is the product of an object's mass and velocity in Newtonian physics. It's a two-dimensional vector quantity with a magnitude and a direction. The momentum of an object is p = mv if m is its mass and v is its velocity (also a vector quantity).

Complete answer:
The rotational equivalent of linear momentum is angular momentum in physics. Because it is a conserved quantity—the total angular momentum of a closed system remains constant—it is a significant quantity in physics. The angular momentum of a point particle in three dimensions is a pseudovector r×p , which is the cross product of the particle's position vector r (relative to some origin) and its momentum vector, which in Newtonian physics is p = mv. Because the particle's location is measured from the origin, angular momentum, unlike momentum, is dependent on where the origin is chosen.
There are two types of angular momentum for an object, similar to angular velocity: spin angular momentum and orbital angular momentum. Spin angular momentum is the angular momentum about the object's centre of mass, while orbital angular momentum is the angular momentum about a chosen centre of rotation. The sum of the spin and orbital angular momenta is the total angular momentum. A point particle's orbital angular momentum vector is always parallel and exactly proportional to its orbital angular velocity vector ω , where the proportionality constant relies on both the particle's mass and its distance from the origin. A rigid body's spin angular momentum vector is proportional but not always parallel to its spin angular velocity vector Ω , making the proportionality constant a second-rank tensor rather than a scalar. A rigid body's spin angular momentum vector is proportional but not always parallel to its spin angular velocity vector, making the proportionality constant a second-rank tensor rather than a scalar.

Note:
Angular momentum is a large number; every composite system's total angular momentum is equal to the sum of its constituent elements' angular momenta. Total angular momentum is the volume integral of angular momentum density (i.e. angular momentum per unit volume in the limit as volume decreases to zero) throughout the entire body for a continuous rigid body or a fluid.