Question

A large wooden wheel of radius R and the moment of inertia I is mounted on an axle so as to rotate freely. A bullet of mass m and speed v is shot tangential to the wheel and strike its edge, lodging in the wheel’s rim. If the wheel was originally at rest, what is its rotation rate just after the collision?

Answers

Initial angular momentum about axis =
Mbullet*Vbullet*R

This equals the final angular momentum,
(Iwheel + Mbullet*R^2)*w_final

w_final = (Mbullet*Vbullet)*R/(Iwheel + Mbullet*R^2)

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