Physics › Section G · Statics, torque, and rotation › Topic G.8
Collisions of extended bodies and gyroscopes
When real objects collide they often start spinning, and when a spinning object is pushed it can move in a direction nobody expected. Both effects follow from treating angular momentum carefully, first as a conserved quantity in collisions and then as a vector with a direction.
In this topic
- Collisions that set things spinning
- What is conserved in a collision
- Worked example: putty hits a door
- The hinge force and the sweet spot
- Worked example: two discs lock together
- Angular momentum has a direction
- A torque at right angles
- Gyroscopes and precession
- Worked example: which way does it precess?
- Earth as a giant gyroscope
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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