Skip to main content

All Questions

3 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why does a body not rotate if force is applied on the centre of mass?

The definition of centre of mass on Wikipedia is given as This is the point to which a force may be applied to cause a linear acceleration without an angular acceleration. How can I prove that such ...
Manit Agarwal's user avatar
18 votes
6 answers
9k views

How can the centripetal force lead to objects flying apart?

I don't understand how the centripetal force, which always points to the center of our circular motion can cause this scenario: We have a big stone which spins very fast, so fast that a part breaks ...
Yalom's user avatar
  • 396
8 votes
9 answers
2k views

Different coordinate system as opposed to different reference frame

I'm having a hard time getting the difference between the two. In Euler's equations of rotating bodies for example, we have: $$ \mathbf{\dot{L}}+\mathbf{\omega} \times \mathbf{L} = \mathbf{\Gamma},$$ ...
Darkenin's user avatar
  • 1,038
6 votes
6 answers
690 views

Validity of rotational Newton's second law in a changing instantaneously inertial frame

A standard textbook question is to ask about some rigid body (say, a 2D disk) rolling down an incline without slipping (cf. John Taylor's Classical Mechanics, Problem 3.35). The standard approach is ...
EE18's user avatar
  • 1,095