Conservation Of Angular Momentum

Conservation Of Angular Momentum Features Low cost, effective teaching Self-contained Wall mounted High visual impact Genuine "hands-on" experience Three year warranty Range of Experiments Used for demonstration only, no measurements are intended. Demonstrates basic concepts of conservation of angular momentum through visual observation Description Conservation of linear momentum is well understood and often demonstrated to students. Equally important is the conservation of angular momentum. It is not easy to do meaningful experiments on this, but a highly visual demonstration of almost dramatic impact is the effect of reducing the radius of a rotating mass. This is often seen in an ice skater performing a pirouette. First they spin round on an axis corresponding to their body, arms outstretched. When they raise their arms above their head, the increase in spin in considerable. Rather than go to an ice rink, students can perform this experiments in the laboratory. A bench mounted vertical board has a rotating arm along which two weights can be moved by a pull cord operated by the student or demonstrator. The weights are moved to the outer ends of their travel, away from the centre of rotation. The arm is then spun rapidly by hand, and the weights pulled towards the centre by the cord. The resulting increase in angular velocity is considerable. This equipment is part of a range designed to both demonstrate and experimentally confirm basic engineering principles. Great care has been given to each item so as to provide wide experimental scope without unduly complicating or compromising the design. Each piece of apparatus is self-contained and compact. Setting up time is minimal, and all measurements are made with the simplest possible instrumentation, so that the student involvement is purely with the engineering principles being taught. A complete instruction manual is provided describing the apparatus, its application, experimental procedure and typical test results