What practical use is made of the large rotational kinetic energy that a heavy spinning disk can hold?
AIt cools the engine of a moving vehicle
BIt cancels the weight of a moving vehicle
CIt measures the speed of a moving vehicle
DIt stores energy on board a moving vehicle
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. It stores energy on board a moving vehicle
1. Rotational kinetic energy is one half I omega squared, and a heavy disk spun fast holds a great deal of it.
2. Flywheels use this to store energy on board a vehicle.
3. Braking can feed energy into the flywheel and later take it back out to accelerate again.
4. Nothing about a spinning disk cancels weight, which needs an upward force rather than stored energy.
_Source: OpenStax College Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 10 "Rotational Motion and Angular Momentum", section 10.4 Rotational Kinetic Energy: Work and Energy Revisited_
Keep practising Rotational Motion and Angular Momentum
Browse all Rotational Motion and Angular Momentum questions for B.Tech Robotics, or explore more Mechanics topics.
Related questions
Angular momentum is a vector. Is rotational kinetic energy also a vector?A torque acts on a spinning body. In which direction does its angular momentum change?How is the direction of angular velocity and angular momentum found for a spinning disk?A hinged stick is struck at various points along its length. At which point is no force deAbout how long was a day on Earth some 900 million years ago?What keeps Earth turning, and what is slowly changing its rate of spin?Earth is treated as a uniform sphere of mass 5.979 x 10^24 kg and radius 6.376 x 10^6 m, tA skater has 2.34 kg m^2 at 0.800 rev/s with arms out, and 0.363 kg m^2 at 5.16 rev/s with