Skip to Content
Make: Physics
book

Make: Physics

by Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron
June 2026
Beginner to intermediate
334 pages
8h 54m
English
Make: Community
Content preview from Make: Physics

Chapter 8. Angular Momentum

In Chapter 6, we introduced the concept of momentum, and explored how it was conserved. Rotating objects also have angular momentum, which is independently conserved if a body is moving and rotating simultaneously. Our ball bearings and marbles were rolling when they collided in the last chapter, but we ignored the effects this caused to focus on the linear momentum. Here, we do a few experiments to characterize the rotational effects.

In the last chapter, we introduced the idea of torque and how rotation gets started. Now, we take a deep breath and dive into some of the calculus involved to compute the motions of rotating bodies. Measuring rotating systems accurately with low-cost equipment is tricky. However, we ...

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Make: Calculus

Make: Calculus

Joan Horvath, Rich Cameron
Mechanical Engineering for Makers

Mechanical Engineering for Makers

Brian Bunnell, Samer Najia

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 0636920346562Errata Page