Angular Momentum

Program 119


mu119.jpg
An old momentum with a new twist. Kepler's second law of planetary motion, which is rooted here in a much deeper principle, imagined a line from the sun to a planet that sweeps out equal areas in equal times. Angular momentum is a twist on momentum -- the cross product of the radius vector and momentum. A force with twist is torque. When no torque acts on a system, the angular momentum of the system is conserved.