The recent issue of AJP posed a problem which NO physics professors (20) or
students (67) could solve. I wonder if anyone on this list can solve it?
Please no peeking at the answer key. I have already peeked so I am
disqualified.
Ignore the retarding effect of air resistance. A rigid wheel is spinning
with an angular speed of W0 about a frictionless axis. The wheel drops on a
horizontal floor, slips for some time, and then rolls without slipping.
After the wheel starts rolling without slipping, the center of the mass
speed is Vf. How does Vf depend on the kinetic coefficient of friction mu
between the floor and the wheel?
John M. Clement
Houston, TX
This posting is the position of the writer, not that of SUNY-BSC, NAU or the AAPT.