physics question, need help, thank you?

Valkyrie

New member
At the instant a particle of mass M crossess the x-axis, it's moving with a speed v in the cy-plane and at an angle of 60 degrees with the x-axis. The angular momentum of the particle about an axis through the origin O and perpendicular to the page at this instant is ....
 
The angular momentum is the linear momentum (M*v) times the perpendicular distance from the line of motion to the axis. Crossing the x axis at point X and angle (with the positive x-axis) of θ, the perpedicular distance from the origin is X*sinθ The angular momentum is then

M*v*X*sinθ

(Check: if θ = 0, the path of motion goes through the origin and the angular momentum is zero.)
 
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