Question

Compare and contrast angular momentum and linear momentum. Include two ways that they are alike and two ways that they are different. Be sure to discuss how mass affects both angular and linear momentum. (5 points)

Answer 1

Linear momentum of an object is the product of the object’s mass and velocity. Linear momentum is a vector quantity, and the direction of momentum is taken to be the direction of the object’s velocity.

or an object with mass moving at a velocity , the angular momentum with respect to a reference point is defined using the cross product as:

where is the position vector of the object that describes the object’s position with respect to the reference point. The units for measuring angular momentum is kg m2 s-1. Since angular momentum is defined in terms of a cross product, the direction of the angular momentum vector is taken to be in a direction perpendicular to both the particle’s position vector and its velocity vector

Explanation: