Question

A person with mass mp = 76 kg stands on a spinning platform disk with a radius of R = 1.98 m and mass md = 191 kg. The disk is initially spinning at ω = 1.7 rad/s. The person then walks 2/3 of the way toward the center of the disk (ending 0.66 m from the center).

If the person now walks back to the rim of the disk, what is the final angular speed of the disk?

Answer 1

1.7 rad/s The key thing here is conservation of angular momentum. The system as a whole will retain the same angular momentum. The initial velocity is 1.7 rad/s. As the person walks closer to the center of the spinning disk, the speed will increase. But I'm not going to bother calculating by how much. Just remember the speed will increase. And then as the person walks back out to the rim to the same distance that the person originally started, the speed will decrease. But during the entire walk, the total angular momentum remained constant. And since the initial mass distribution matches the final mass distribution, the final angular speed will match the initial angular speed.