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A student sits on a rotating stool holding two 2.7-kg objects. When his arms are

ID: 1461597 • Letter: A

Question

A student sits on a rotating stool holding two 2.7-kg objects. When his arms are extended horizontally, the objects are 1.0 m from the axis of rotation and he rotates with an angular speed of 0.75 rad/s. The moment of inertia of the student plus stool is 3.0 kg · m2 and is assumed to be constant. The student then pulls in the objects horizontally to 0.32 m from the rotation axis. (a) Find the new angular speed of the student.(b) Find the kinetic energy of the student before and after the objects are pulled in.

Explanation / Answer

the Initial moment of inertia of the system(student + stool+ the two masses) is

   Ii = 3.0 + 2 ( 2.7*1.02 ) = 8.4 kgm2

the Final moment of inertia is

   If = 3.0 + 2 ( 2.7*0.322 )= 3.55 kgm2

from conservation of angular momentum

    Ii i =   If f        

8.4 * 0.75   = 3.55 *

= 1.77 rad/s

initial kinetic energy of the system is

KE = (1/2) I 2

= (1/2) * 8.4 * 0.752

= 2.36J

final kinetic energy of the sytem is

KE = (1/2) I 2

= (1/2) * 3.55 * 1.772

= 5.56J