The Traffic Accident Reconstruction Origin -ARnews-

Re: Snowmobile speed response to archive thread

Brian P. Griffin (pretty.good@high-school.physics)
Sat, 31 Oct 1998 15:58:29 -0500 (EST)

Gene Baxter wrote:
>track speed will increase. Therefore, the rotational (angular) inertia
>of the track system will also increase
*********************************************

The rotational inertia (I) does not change unless you mechanically alter the
vehicle. You are describing a change in the track's angular velocity (omega).
Angular momentum is the product of these two quantities: (I) x (omega).
When the angular velocity changes, so does the angular momentum.

Rotational inertia does not depend on angular velocity.
To change the rotational inertia you must:
(1)-change the shape of the rotating object OR
(2)-change the axis of rotation OR
(3)-change the amount or distribution of the rotating mass

So in this case, inertial changes are probably limited to some sagging of
the track due to gravity once it is no longer in contact with the ramp.
For all intents and purposes, then:

"the track's rotational inertia stays about the same."
Brian P. Griffin
pretty.good@high-school.physics

NOTE: You are reading in an archived session of ARnews. It is possible that this topic is still being discussed. To see if this topic is still active, or of there were any more recent posts on this topic, check later archives of ARnews.

If there is no current post, and you would like to add to this topic, link to the Current ARnews Discussion and begin a new thread. Be sure that if you are starting a new post that the thread title does not contain the abbreviation RE: Placing RE: at the beginning of a new post will confuse Hypermail and prevent others from answering your post in the future.

For example, to continue this discussion look for a thread titled

Snowmobile speed response to archive thread

If this thread does not exist in the current archive, you can begin another one by using that title.