Sunday, December 10, 2006

Rotational and translational Equilibrium

Some of you are making the DREADED MISTAKE. Do not think that no net torque means no rotation can occur. If the net torque is zero the angular speed, omega, is constant; it can be zero, but it does not necessarily have to be zero. It's just like linear (translational) motion: if Fnet is zero, v is constant, not necessarily zero. Equilibrium means a and alpha are zero and v and omega are constant. Static equilibrium does mean alpha, a, omega and v are all zero.

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