Halley’s comet moves about the Sun in an elliptical orbit, withits closest approach to the Sun being 0.59 AU and its greatestdistance being 35 AU (1 AU is the Earth–Sun distance). If thecomet’s speed at closest approach is 54 km/s, what is its speedwhen it is farthest from the Sun? You may neglect any changein the comet’s mass and assume that its angular momentumabout the Sun is conserved.
Angular Momentum
The momentum of an object is given by multiplying its mass and velocity. Momentum is a property of any object that moves with mass. The only difference between angular momentum and linear momentum is that angular momentum deals with moving or spinning objects. A moving particle's linear momentum can be thought of as a measure of its linear motion. The force is proportional to the rate of change of linear momentum. Angular momentum is always directly proportional to mass. In rotational motion, the concept of angular momentum is often used. Since it is a conserved quantity—the total angular momentum of a closed system remains constant—it is a significant quantity in physics. To understand the concept of angular momentum first we need to understand a rigid body and its movement, a position vector that is used to specify the position of particles in space. A rigid body possesses motion it may be linear or rotational. Rotational motion plays important role in angular momentum.
Moment of a Force
The idea of moments is an important concept in physics. It arises from the fact that distance often plays an important part in the interaction of, or in determining the impact of forces on bodies. Moments are often described by their order [first, second, or higher order] based on the power to which the distance has to be raised to understand the phenomenon. Of particular note are the second-order moment of mass (Moment of Inertia) and moments of force.
Halley’s comet moves about the Sun in an elliptical orbit, with
its closest approach to the Sun being 0.59 AU and its greatest
distance being 35 AU (1 AU is the Earth–Sun distance). If the
comet’s speed at closest approach is 54 km/s, what is its speed
when it is farthest from the Sun? You may neglect any change
in the comet’s mass and assume that its angular momentum
about the Sun is conserved.
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