Question

a 1600-kg car is traveling at 20 m/s around a curve with a radius of 120m. What is the angular momentum of the car?

Answer 1

Question. A 1600-kg car is traveling at $20\,\mathrm{m/s}$ around a curve with a radius of $120\,\mathrm{m}$. What is the angular momentum of the car?

Solution. Let us put a origin of a coordinate system in the center of the curve. In this coordinate system we can find the angular momentum of the car from equation $L = m v r \sin \alpha$, $\alpha$ is the angle between velocity of the car and the radius of the curve. Since $\alpha = 90{}^\circ$, so $\sin \alpha = 1$ and

$$L = m v r$$ $$L = 1600 \cdot 20 \cdot 120 = 3,84 \cdot 10^6 \,\mathrm{kg\,m^2/s}$$

Answer: $L = 3,84 \cdot 10^6 \,\mathrm{kg\,m^2/s}$