As discussed in Section 10.6, the angular momentum of a circus acrobat is conserved as she tumbles through the air. Is her ?linear? momentum conserved? Why or why not?
Solution to 25DQ No, the linear momentum is not conserved. Angular momentum of a body is conserved because the central force acting on the circus acrobat i.e the gravitational force does not contribute to the torque. Thus, when the circus acrobat changes the radius of rotation, to keep the angular momentum constant, velocity of rotation will change. This in effect will change the linear momentum of the acrobat because both the magnitude and direction of tangential velocity will change. Therefore, the linear momentum is not conserved.