AY 101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Gravity Assist, Interstellar Cloud, Tidal Locking
Document Summary
Angular momentum: a property of any object that is rotating or moving along a curved path (like an orbit) Conservation of angular momentum: the total angular momentum of an isolated system is conserved, objects in an isolated system may exchange angular momentum. If they do, one must gain angular momentum while the other must lose angular momentum, in order to keep the total angular momentum constant. The result could be a change in orbit properties or rotational periods: only an encounter w an external object, like a passing star, could change the angular momentum of a system. Newton"s three laws of motion: in the absence of any external forces, an object at rest remains at rest and an object in uniform motion remains in uniform motion, forces accelerate objects. Amounts of acceleration depends on force strength: for every force, there is always an equal and opposite reaction force.
