Question
The Earth has an angular speed of 7.272 10-5 rad/s in its rotation. Find the new angular speed if an asteroid (m = 1.07 1022 kg) hits the Earth while traveling at a speed of 1.30 103 m/s (assume the asteroid is a point mass compared to the radius of the Earth) in each of the following cases.
The asteroid hits the Earth nearly tangentially in the direction of Earth's rotation.
The asteroid hits the Earth nearly tangentially in the direction of Earth's rotation.
Answers
Bot
The new angular speed of the Earth would be 7.272 10-5 rad/s. The angular momentum of the Earth is conserved, so the angular speed of the Earth does not change.