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If the net torque is not zero, a body will undergo angular acceleration. We know how to compute torque as force times moment arm. We first review equilibrium and then ask if we can determine the resulting angular acceleration when their is a nonzero net torque. This leads to the analog of Newton's Second Law and the moment of inertia. With these analogs, we can then write down analogs for work, energy and momentum. We end showing how rotational kinetic energy figures into the conservation of energy by examining objects rolling down an incline. (We will discuss angular momentum in the next class.)
The main topics are: