The following table lists various orders of magnitude for angular momentum, in Joule-seconds.
Factor (J·s) | Value (J·s) | Item |
---|---|---|
10−34 | 1.055×10−34 | Reduced Planck constant |
6.626×10−34 | Planck constant | |
10−11 | 7.9×10−11 | The second hand of a wristwatch, measured from center of watch |
102 | 250 | Men's Olympic hammer throw, measured from center of thrower |
104 | 13,300 | Offset collision of two mid-sized automobiles at 50 km/h (~30 mph), measured from centerline |
104 | 53,000 | Typical large carousel in operation, [1] modeled as a cylinder, with respect to its center |
1029 | 2.308×1029 | Rotational angular momentum of the Moon |
1033 | 7.07×1033 | Rotational angular momentum of the Earth [2] |
1034 | 2.871×1034 | Orbital angular momentum of the Moon, with respect to the Earth. [3] |
1040 | 2.661×1040 | Orbital angular momentum of the Earth, with respect to the Sun [2] |
1041 | 1.676×1041 | Rotational angular momentum of the Sun [4] |
Angular momentum is the rotational analog of linear momentum. It is an important physical quantity because it is a conserved quantity – the total angular momentum of a closed system remains constant. Angular momentum has both a direction and a magnitude, and both are conserved. Bicycles and motorcycles, flying discs, rifled bullets, and gyroscopes owe their useful properties to conservation of angular momentum. Conservation of angular momentum is also why hurricanes form spirals and neutron stars have high rotational rates. In general, conservation limits the possible motion of a system, but it does not uniquely determine it.
Precession is a change in the orientation of the rotational axis of a rotating body. In an appropriate reference frame it can be defined as a change in the first Euler angle, whereas the third Euler angle defines the rotation itself. In other words, if the axis of rotation of a body is itself rotating about a second axis, that body is said to be precessing about the second axis. A motion in which the second Euler angle changes is called nutation. In physics, there are two types of precession: torque-free and torque-induced.
In physics and mechanics, torque is the rotational analogue of linear force. It is also referred to as the moment of force. The symbol for torque is typically , the lowercase Greek letter tau. When being referred to as moment of force, it is commonly denoted by M. Just as a linear force is a push or a pull applied to a body, a torque can be thought of as a twist applied to an object with respect to a chosen point; for example, driving a screw uses torque, which is applied by the screwdriver rotating around its axis. A force of three newtons applied two metres from the fulcrum, for example, exerts the same torque as a force of one newton applied six metres from the fulcrum.
In atomic physics, the Bohr magneton is a physical constant and the natural unit for expressing the magnetic moment of an electron caused by its orbital or spin angular momentum. In SI units, the Bohr magneton is defined as and in the Gaussian CGS units as where
A nuclear isomer is a metastable state of an atomic nucleus, in which one or more nucleons (protons or neutrons) occupy excited state (higher energy) levels. "Metastable" describes nuclei whose excited states have half-lives 100 to 1000 times longer than the half-lives of the excited nuclear states that decay with a "prompt" half life (ordinarily on the order of 10−12 seconds). The term "metastable" is usually restricted to isomers with half-lives of 10−9 seconds or longer. Some references recommend 5 × 10−9 seconds to distinguish the metastable half life from the normal "prompt" gamma-emission half-life. Occasionally the half-lives are far longer than this and can last minutes, hours, or years. For example, the 180m
73Ta
nuclear isomer survives so long (at least 1015 years) that it has never been observed to decay spontaneously. The half-life of a nuclear isomer can even exceed that of the ground state of the same nuclide, as shown by 180m
73Ta
as well as 186m
75Re
, 192m2
77Ir
, 210m
83Bi
, 212m
84Po
, 242m
95Am
and multiple holmium isomers.
In electromagnetism, the magnetic moment or magnetic dipole moment is the combination of strength and orientation of a magnet or other object or system that exerts a magnetic field. The magnetic dipole moment of an object determines the magnitude of torque the object experiences in a given magnetic field. When the same magnetic field is applied, objects with larger magnetic moments experience larger torques. The strength of this torque depends not only on the magnitude of the magnetic moment but also on its orientation relative to the direction of the magnetic field. Its direction points from the south pole to north pole of the magnet.
In atomic physics, a magnetic quantum number is a quantum number used to distinguish quantum states of an electron or other particle according to its angular momentum along a given axis in space. The orbital magnetic quantum number distinguishes the orbitals available within a given subshell of an atom. It specifies the component of the orbital angular momentum that lies along a given axis, conventionally called the z-axis, so it describes the orientation of the orbital in space. The spin magnetic quantum numberms specifies the z-axis component of the spin angular momentum for a particle having spin quantum number s. For an electron, s is 1⁄2, and ms is either +1⁄2 or −1⁄2, often called "spin-up" and "spin-down", or α and β. The term magnetic in the name refers to the magnetic dipole moment associated with each type of angular momentum, so states having different magnetic quantum numbers shift in energy in a magnetic field according to the Zeeman effect.
A charged black hole is a black hole that possesses electric charge. Since the electromagnetic repulsion in compressing an electrically charged mass is dramatically greater than the gravitational attraction, it is not expected that black holes with a significant electric charge will be formed in nature.
In celestial mechanics, the specific relative angular momentum of a body is the angular momentum of that body divided by its mass. In the case of two orbiting bodies it is the vector product of their relative position and relative linear momentum, divided by the mass of the body in question.
In classical mechanics, areal velocity (also called sector velocity or sectorial velocity) is a pseudovector whose length equals the rate of change at which area is swept out by a particle as it moves along a curve. It has SI units of square meters per second (m2/s) and dimension of square length per time L2 T-1.
In quantum mechanics, angular momentum coupling is the procedure of constructing eigenstates of total angular momentum out of eigenstates of separate angular momenta. For instance, the orbit and spin of a single particle can interact through spin–orbit interaction, in which case the complete physical picture must include spin–orbit coupling. Or two charged particles, each with a well-defined angular momentum, may interact by Coulomb forces, in which case coupling of the two one-particle angular momenta to a total angular momentum is a useful step in the solution of the two-particle Schrödinger equation. In both cases the separate angular momenta are no longer constants of motion, but the sum of the two angular momenta usually still is. Angular momentum coupling in atoms is of importance in atomic spectroscopy. Angular momentum coupling of electron spins is of importance in quantum chemistry. Also in the nuclear shell model angular momentum coupling is ubiquitous.
The invariable plane of a planetary system, also called Laplace's invariable plane, is the plane passing through its barycenter perpendicular to its angular momentum vector.
In physics, relativistic mechanics refers to mechanics compatible with special relativity (SR) and general relativity (GR). It provides a non-quantum mechanical description of a system of particles, or of a fluid, in cases where the velocities of moving objects are comparable to the speed of light c. As a result, classical mechanics is extended correctly to particles traveling at high velocities and energies, and provides a consistent inclusion of electromagnetism with the mechanics of particles. This was not possible in Galilean relativity, where it would be permitted for particles and light to travel at any speed, including faster than light. The foundations of relativistic mechanics are the postulates of special relativity and general relativity. The unification of SR with quantum mechanics is relativistic quantum mechanics, while attempts for that of GR is quantum gravity, an unsolved problem in physics.
The newton-second is the unit of impulse in the International System of Units (SI). It is dimensionally equivalent to the momentum unit kilogram-metre per second (kg⋅m/s). One newton-second corresponds to a one-newton force applied for one second.
Rotation around a fixed axis or axial rotation is a special case of rotational motion around an axis of rotation fixed, stationary, or static in three-dimensional space. This type of motion excludes the possibility of the instantaneous axis of rotation changing its orientation and cannot describe such phenomena as wobbling or precession. According to Euler's rotation theorem, simultaneous rotation along a number of stationary axes at the same time is impossible; if two rotations are forced at the same time, a new axis of rotation will result.
In spectroscopy, a forbidden mechanism is a spectral line associated with absorption or emission of photons by atomic nuclei, atoms, or molecules which undergo a transition that is not allowed by a particular selection rule but is allowed if the approximation associated with that rule is not made. For example, in a situation where, according to usual approximations, the process cannot happen, but at a higher level of approximation the process is allowed but at a low rate.
The joule-second is the unit of action and of angular momentum in the International System of Units (SI) equal to the product of an SI derived unit, the joule (J), and an SI base unit, the second (s). The joule-second is a unit of action or of angular momentum. The joule-second also appears in quantum mechanics within the definition of the Planck constant. Angular momentum is the product of an object's moment of inertia, in units of kg⋅m2 and its angular velocity in units of rad⋅s−1. This product of moment of inertia and angular velocity yields kg⋅m2⋅s−1 or the joule-second. The Planck constant represents the energy of a wave, in units of joule, divided by the frequency of that wave, in units of s−1. This quotient of energy and frequency also yields the joule-second (J⋅s).
In general relativity, Lense–Thirring precession or the Lense–Thirring effect is a relativistic correction to the precession of a gyroscope near a large rotating mass such as the Earth. It is a gravitomagnetic frame-dragging effect. It is a prediction of general relativity consisting of secular precessions of the longitude of the ascending node and the argument of pericenter of a test particle freely orbiting a central spinning mass endowed with angular momentum .
The index of physics articles is split into multiple pages due to its size.
An accretion disk is a structure formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a massive central body. The central body is most frequently a star. Friction, uneven irradiance, magnetohydrodynamic effects, and other forces induce instabilities causing orbiting material in the disk to spiral inward toward the central body. Gravitational and frictional forces compress and raise the temperature of the material, causing the emission of electromagnetic radiation. The frequency range of that radiation depends on the central object's mass. Accretion disks of young stars and protostars radiate in the infrared; those around neutron stars and black holes in the X-ray part of the spectrum. The study of oscillation modes in accretion disks is referred to as diskoseismology.
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