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Old 18th February 2005 | 22:09
  #31 (permalink)  
cwatters
 
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 1,389
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From: England
Can anyone out there explain how a car or a bicycle or a 747 makes a 180 turn with very little energy expended and yet produces a reversal of momentum?

Who cares about momentum? It's conservation of energy thats important.

Start by working out how a rubber ball can bounce back up to (nearly) the height from which it was dropped. That also demonstrates a "reversal of momentum" as you put it.

.. but you missed the best example. The earth does the same thing! Every 6 months if finishes a 180 degree turn and heads off in the opposite direction to the way it was going 6 months earlier.

Hint: In theory a perfect ideal flywheel with no friction will never slow down.

Last edited by cwatters; 18th February 2005 at 22:20.
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