Conservation of Angular Momentum

~ is conserved because we don’t have any externarl torque, P ~τexternal = 0. We have

We know that the angular momentum, L,
that:

L = Iω
Since the whole system starts all at rest we know that the initial angular momentum, Li = 0. So since angular momentum
is conserved we know:

Linitial = Lf inal
One very important thing is that this L ~ is the angular momentum relative to the ground.
For the final angular momentum we have two things rotating, the child is undergoing circular motion, and the merry-go-
around is also rotating. So the final angular momentum is the sum of both individual angular momentum:

Lf inal = Lchild + Lmerry = m vch,g r + Iω = 0

Where r is the radius of the merry-go-around, vch,g is the velocity of the child with respect to the ground, because the
angular momentum relative to the ground is conserved.

Relative Velocities
We need to find the velocity of the child with respect to the ground (vch,g ). This is just the vectorial sum of the velocity of
the child in the merry-go-around and the velocity of the merry-go-around with respect to the ground (vmerry,g ).
Without considering the signs we can write:

vch,g = vc in merry + vmerry,g

where again vc in merry is the velocity of the child in the merry-go-around, and vmerry,g is the velocity of the merry-go-
around with respect to the ground.
Now lets relate the velocity of the merry-go-around to its angular velocity and radius:

vmerry,g = ω r
We have this three equations:

vmerry,g = ω r

m vch,g r + Iω = 0

vch,g = vc in merry + vmerry,g

Now we are ready to substitute and solve for vch,g
From m vch,g r + Iω = 0, lets solve for ω:
r m vch,g
ω=−
I
So we have:

r m vch,g r2 m vch,g
vmerry,g = ω r = − r=−
I I
So

r2 m vch,g
vch,g = vc in merry −
I
We solve for the velocity of the child with respect to the ground, vch,g from the above equation and get:
vc in merry I
vch,g =
I + m r2