How does mass affect angular velocity?
February 20th, 2023
Mass affects angular velocity through conservation of .
The basic equation for angular momentum is ##L=Iomega##, where I is the and ##omega## is the angular velocity. The moment of inertia is proportional to mass, so if the mass suddenly decreases (such as when a massive star blows itself to smitherines in a supernova explosion), the angular velocity of the leftover remnant will increase (though the primary reason for this increase is that the radius of the central core decreases greatly–radius is another component of the moment of inertia–so ##omega## increases).