Imagine an astronaut takes a bicycle wheel with her into deep space. Holding bot
ID: 584058 • Letter: I
Question
Imagine an astronaut takes a bicycle wheel with her into deep space. Holding both sides of the axis, she starts the wheel spinning. Then she lets it go and flies back to earth. Assuming no one and nothing touched the wheel, if you looked through a telescope at the bicycle 1 wheel ten years from now, would it still be spinning? Explain your answer. (Note: Looking at the website assigned for Self-Check Test 12* may be helpful for answering this question. You should, however, be able to answer this question only from what you have studied in Part 3.)Explanation / Answer
The physical quantity required to stop a rotating object is the torque. torque is equal to the force multiplied by the perpendicular distance of the line of force acting from the rotational axis.
As there is no air drag and any other resistance forces in the space, there will be no such torque to stop the rotations of the wheel.
Thus, the wheel continuous its rotatory motion forever.