As you crawl toward the edge of a large freely-rotating horizontal turntable in a carnival funhouse, the angular momentum of you and the turntable
A)decreases.
B)increases.
C)remains the same, but the revolutions per minute decrease.
D)decreases in direct proportion to your decrease in revolutions per minute.
E)none of these

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The angular momentum of the system (you + turntable) remains the same since there are no external torques acting on it. However, as you crawl toward the edge, your distance from the axis of rotation increases, which leads to a decrease in your rotational speed (revolutions per minute) due to conservation of angular momentum. Therefore, the revolutions per minute decrease while the angular momentum remains constant, making option C the best choice.

As You Crawl Toward the Edge of a Large Freely-Rotating