Video Image

Video URL

http://youtu.be/9MGQJar8dNg

Video Description

Conservation of angular momentum causes a skater to spin faster when they bring their arms in. But just how much faster do they spin? The formula for the conservation of angular momentum says that if you have a spinning object and you reduce the radius of the object by half, it causes the object to quadruple its speed. How can you possible measure this directly? This video shows a clever setup using only commonly available household materials that demonstrates the quadrupling of the rotational speed.

Video Creator Bio

Franklin Hu is an independent amateur scientist living in Bothell WA. He is a graduate of MIT and works in software engineering as a profession.

4 months later

Hi Franklin,

Really liked the simlplicity of your demonstration of the conservation of angular momentum. I thought the visualization was quite effective. I do wish you had said a little more about the physics though!

I feel as though it may have been a bit stronger if you had spent a little more time guiding the audience through the phenomemon rather than explaining the device (which was cool as well, though a bit distracting).

Anyway, great demonstration!

If you have a moment, would you be so kind as to tell me what you thought about my video?

8 years later
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