Physics Homework Help?

Question

Part A

Determine the angular momentum of the Earth about its rotation axis (assume the Earth is a uniform sphere).

 

 

Part B

Determine the angular momentum of the Earth in its orbit around the Sun (treat the Earth as a particle orbiting the Sun).

 

Answer 1

(a)

The earth is a uniform sphere.

The moment of inertial of a solid sphere is , where is mass of the earth and is radius of earth.

Earth completes the one complete revolution in .

The angular velocity of the earth is .

The angular momentum of the earth is .

Substitute and .

.

The angular momentum of the Earth about its rotation axis is .

Answer 2

(b)

The moment of inertia of earth as a solid sphere particle is .

The moment of inertia of the earth about the sun is .

Where is mass of the earth, is radius of earth and is the distance between earth and sun.

Earth completes the one complete revolution about the sun in .

The angular velocity of the earth is .

The angular momentum of the earth in its orbit around the sun is .

Substitute and .

Substitute , and .

.

The angular momentum of the earth in its orbit around the sun is .