A circular platform is mounted on a frictionless vertical axle. Its radius and moment of inertia about the axle is . It is initially at rest. A man stands on the edge of the platform and begins to walk along the edge at the speed of relative to the ground. Time taken by the man to complete one revolution is:
Since no external torque acts on the system (man + platform), the total angular momentum is conserved. The initial angular momentum is zero. Let the angular velocity of the platform be . The velocity of the man relative to the ground is . His angular velocity relative to the ground is . According to the law of conservation of angular momentum: . The negative sign indicates that the platform rotates in the opposite direction to the man's motion. The angular velocity of the man relative to the platform is: . The time taken by the man to complete one revolution on the platform is: .
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