Viral Scoop
updates | July 14, 2026

How can an ice skater change his rotational velocity without involving any external torque?

When an object changes its shape (rotational inertia), its angular velocity will also change if there is no external torque. An example is when an ice skater spins and changes her rotation velocity by holding her arms outwards or pulling them inwards (see Figure 1 below).

What happens to angular velocity when no external torque is applied?

The law of conservation of angular momentum states that when no external torque acts on an object, no change of angular momentum will occur.

How can the skaters angular momentum be changed?

Spinning While Skating

Given that no outside force is applied, the angular momentum is conserved. When the skater extends her arms or legs, she effectively increases her radius, and thus changes her moment of inertia.

Why is the net torque is around zero when an ice skater does a spin?

EXPLANATION: In the case of a skater doing a spin, the angular velocity is constant and hence the angular momentum is constant. So, the net torque should be zero or very close to zero. The motion doing spin creates little friction force near the pivot point between his skate and ice.

How does conservation of angular momentum relate to the spin of a skater?

This is the result of conservation of angular momentum. As the skater reduces her moment of inertia by pulling her arms and legs in, closer to the axis of rotation, her angular speed increases to order to maintain constant angular momentum.

18 related questions found

How can an ice skater increase his/her spinning speed?

A spinning ice skater can increase his rate of rotation by bringing his arms and free leg closer to his body.

How is angular momentum important for ice skating?

Answer. This is the result of conservation of angular momentum: as the skater reduces her rotational inertia by pulling her arms and leg in, her rotation speed must increase to maintain constant angular momentum. Angular momentum conservation plays a VERY important role in all figure skating routines.

When an ice skater goes for a spin what happens to her spinning speed when she stretches her hands?

When she moves her arms close to her body, she spins faster. Her moment of inertia decreases, so her angular velocity must increase to keep the angular momentum constant.

Which quantity does not change when an ice skater pulls in her arms during a spin?

Which quantity does not change when an ice skater pulls in her arms during a spin? In a closed system, if the y-component of the initial momentum is zero, then the y-component of the final momentum is zero.

What will happen if an ice skater spinning on one of her toes extends her arms?

If an ice skater spinning on one of her toes extends her arms, her moment of inertia will increase but her angular velocity will decrease.

How are rotational speed and rotational inertia related When angular momentum is conserved?

Applying the conservation of angular momentum

Angular momentum depends on the rotational velocity of an object, but also its rotational inertia. When an object changes its shape (rotational inertia), its angular velocity will also change if there is no external torque.

Will there be a change in a gymnast's angular momentum if he changes his body configuration during a somersault?

What happens to a gymnast's angular momentum when he changes his body configuration during a somersault? What happens to his rotational speed? The angular momentum is unchanged. His speed will increase while he tucks and decrease when he straightens out.

When there is no external torque then?

When no external torque acts on a system of particles, then the total angular momentum of the system always remains constant. When no external torque acts on a system of particles, then the total angular momentum of the system always remains zero.

When no external torque acts on an object which quantity is conserved?

Law of conservation of angular momentum: When the net external torque acting on a body about a given axis is zero, the total angular momentum of the body about that axis remains constant.

Can the angular momentum of a particle change if there is no net torque acting on the particle?

The net torque on a particle is thus equal to the rate of change of its angular momentum. In particular, the angular momentum of a particle will remain constant (not change with time) if the net torque on the particle is zero.

Why do ice skaters spin faster when they pull their arms in?

The conservation of angular momentum explains why ice skaters start to spin faster when they suddenly draw their arms inward, or why divers or gymnasts who decrease their moment of inertia by going into the tuck position start to flip or twist at a faster rate.

When the figure skater pulls her arms in what happens to her angular momentum?

Her angular momentum is conserved because the net torque on her is negligibly small. (b) Her rate of spin increases greatly when she pulls in her arms, decreasing her moment of inertia. The work she does to pull in her arms results in an increase in rotational kinetic energy. K′Rot=12I′(ω′)2.

What happens to her angular speed when she pulls her arms in?

conservation of angular momentum: her moment of inertia is decreased, and so her angular speed must increase to conserve angular momentum. An ice skater performs a pirouette (a fast spin) by pulling in his outstretched arms close to his body.

What does the skater physically do to make themselves spin faster or slower?

When a skater performs a dazzling spin, they control their rotational speed by pulling their arms in to decrease the moment of inertia and speed up rotation or spreading them out to decrease moment of inertia and slow rotation.

How does an ice skater spin?

The skater rotates around the point at which the blade touches the ice, the most important point in the vertical axis made by the skater's body, and a fixed vertical axis that extends from the blade on the ice to the highest point in his or her body.

How do skaters keep spinning?

The principle of the conservation of angular momentum holds that an object's angular momentum will stay the same unless acted upon by an outside force. This explains why a figure skater spins faster when she tucks her arms in close to her body.

How do ice skaters spin without getting dizzy?

When our head rotation triggers this automatic, repetitive eye movement, called nystagmus, we get dizzy. Skaters suppress the dizziness by learning how to counteract nystagmus with another type of eye movement, called optokinetic nystagmus.

When there is no external torque acting on body moving in elliptical path which of the following quantities remain constant?

When there is no external torque acting on a body moving in an elliptical path, which of the following quantities remain constant ? Show that in the absence of any external force, the velocity of the centre of mass remains constant.

Can an object rotate if there is no torque acting on it?

Because there is no net torque acting on an object in equilibrium, an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in constant angular motion will stay in angular motion.

When there is no external torque acting on a body moving in elliptical path which ofthe following quantities remain constant?

When the net external torque acting on a system is zero, the total angular momentum of the system remains constant. Therefore the angular momentum of a moving body remains constant if net external torque is not applied.