INTERACTIVE EXAMPLE
© Copyright, Department of Physics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Comments


Rotating Block and String


A small block of mass (so it may be treated as a point mass) 0.91 kg slides without friction on a horizontal table. Initially it moves in a circle of radius r0 = 0.63 m with a speed 1.5 m/s. It is held in its path by a string that passes through a small hole at the center of the circle. The string is then pulled down a distance d = r0 - r1 = 0.12 m, leaving it at a radius r = r1 = 0.51 m. It is pulled so slowly that the object continues to move in a circle of continually decreasing radius.

How much work was done by the force to change the radius from 0.63 m to 0.51 m?

W = J