Oxford University Press eBooks

Angular momentum

Peter Joshua Atkins, Ronald Friedman

Published Nov 11, 2010• 0 citations

Abstract

This chapter considers rotational motion as the second class of motion of an object around a fixed point and angular momentum, which is one of the most important topics in quantum mechanics. It discusses the rotational motion and angular momentum in terms of solutions of the Schrödinger equation and see how its properties emerge from the operators for angular momentum and their commutation relations. It also examines the quantum mechanical description of a particle travelling on a circular ring, which applies to the motion of a bead on a circle of wire and any body rotating in a plane. The chapter describes the moment of inertia the property, which determines the characteristics of the rotational motion of a body. It cites a particle of mass m travelling on a circle of radius r in the xy-plane and its potential energy that is constant and taken to be zero.

DOI: 10.1093/hesc/9780199541423.003.0004

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