Physics 1110,
General Physics 1
The wheel is probably the archetype of early human technological
advances. Rotation is an essential part of the world around us - from
planets spinning around their own axis to the axle in your car driving
the wheels - and is a final piece of the basic story of motion we
need in order to understand how things work.
This picture shows an ultracentrifuge
(used in medical research) which was rotating at
90,000 rpm when it malfunctioned. The damage is impressive!
Rotating objects might have no motion of their center of mass, but they
can still hold plenty of kinetic energy.
Week 11 Highlights:
Rotation and angular motion.
This week, we're in Ch 11 and 12 of HRW, section 6 of Thinkwell on
angular motion
Special notes: 
- Participation #8 is online
- 3rd midterm is Tues Nov 18. See "Exams and grades" for more info.
- To listen to an extraordinarily impressive "omega" (angular velocity),
check out the Princeton pulsar page You can "hear" a
rotating star which rotates roughly 1000 times/sec. (Just think about that
for a second, it's pretty stunning that something so huge could rotate so
fast)
- I put up the new long answer hw problem and then changed it an hour
later on Saturday, so please make sure (if you printed it out Saturday early
afternoon) that you have the latest version!
- LAST week's tutorial wasn't from the book (if you missed it, here's a copy. We also handed out a
corresponding tutorial homework in class. If you missed recitation (or lost
the homework handout) you can get that tutorial homework here (due Thursday Nov 6)
Old home page from weeks
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9
or 10
We welcome your comments on the class and this website. Send them to Prof. Pollock