Physics
The speed of rotation is given by the angular frequency (rad/s) or frequency (turns/s, turns/min), or period (seconds, days, etc.). The time-rate of change of angular frequency is angular acceleration (rad/s²), This change is caused by torque. The ratio of the two (how heavy is it to start, stop, or otherwise change rotation) is given by the moment of inertia.
The angular velocity vector also describes the direction of the axis of rotation. Similarly the torque is a vector.
According to the right-hand rule, the direction away from the observer is associated with clockwise rotation and the direction towards the observer with counterclockwise rotation, like a screw.
See also: Speed#Tangential Speed, rotational energy, angular velocity, Centrifugal force (fictitious), centripetal force, circular motion, circular orbit, Coriolis effect, spin (physics), rotational spectroscopy, and Rigid body dynamics#Rigid body angular momentumRead more about this topic: Rotation
Famous quotes containing the word physics:
“Mathematics should be mixed not only with physics but with ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“He who is conversant with the supernal powers will not worship these inferior deities of the wind, waves, tide, and sunshine. But we would not disparage the importance of such calculations as we have described. They are truths in physics because they are true in ethics.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Although philosophers generally believe in laws and deny causes, explanatory practice in physics is just the reverse.”
—Nancy Cartwright (b. 1945)