No. However, divers and trampolinists can perform somersaults and twists even though they have zero angular momentum at all times during the stunt. Also, if a diver is somersaulting in space and possesses angular momentum only about his somersaulting axis, he can make a single discrete change in the position of his arms which initiates continuous twisting motion even in the absence of any applied torque. These apparent paradoxes have confused both physicists and coaches for some time. The present paper attempts to reduce this confusion. It discusses several different methods that performers use to initiate somersaults and twists and presents concrete examples of each method. Wherever possible quantitative calculations are presented and evaluated using information about the moments of inertia, mass, etc., of ’’typical’’ performers.
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July 1979
Papers|
July 01 1979
Do springboard divers violate angular momentum conservation?
Cliff Frohlich
Cliff Frohlich
Marine Science Institute, University of Texas, 700 The Strand, Galveston, Texas 77550
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Am. J. Phys. 47, 583–592 (1979)
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Cliff Frohlich; Do springboard divers violate angular momentum conservation?. Am. J. Phys. 1 July 1979; 47 (7): 583–592. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.11759
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