Question

For a particle traveling in a straight line, are there any points about which the angular momentum is zero? Assume the line intersects the origin.

a) Yes.
b) No.

Answer 1

Yes, for a particle traveling in a straight line that intersects the origin, the angular momentum is zero at all points on that line because the position and momentum vectors are parallel.

Step-by-step explanation:

For a particle traveling in a straight line that intersects the origin, the angular momentum is zero at all points on that line. This is because angular momentum λ is defined as the cross product of the position vector r and the momentum p of the particle, λ = r x p.

hen the particle is on the line that goes through the origin, its position vector is parallel to its momentum vector, making the cross product zero, since two parallel vectors have a cross product of zero.