Conservation of Angular Momentum

Tweet

I wonder how many will be tempted to skip this discussion given its fancy title! MyLotter LindaOh (@LindaOHio) was able to tell me how ice-skaters can increase their speed when swivelling on the one spot. I thought everyone might like to know a bit more about how it’s done. It’s a physics principle called ‘conservation of angular momentum’. Firstly, ‘radius’ is the distance of the mass from the centre. If a skater pulls their arms and legs closer to their body, the radius is reduced and the spin becomes faster. There is no extra push which explains why I could never pick an extra push of any sort. An example you can test for yourself is to spin an office chair while sitting in it. If you sit with your arms out, you’ll spin slowly but pull your arms in and the speed increases. To me, it’s almost like magic. The photo was taken near Innsbruck, Austria.