A coin tossed onto a table often ends up rolling in such a way that the center of mass remains approximately stationary. Although this phenomenon has been studied for many years and is well-documented in the literature, it is perhaps not widely appreciated in the physics education community that the motion can be understood without the use of calculus. In the hopes of providing a pedagogically useful example of physics in everyday life, a solution of the motion of a thin disk rolling in this fashion is reviewed using techniques readily accessible to an algebra-based introductory physics class. In addition, the principal moments of inertia of a thin disk are derived without calculus.
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© 2007 American Association of Physics Teachers.
2007
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