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Stability of rotating objects

Since angular momentum is a vector quantity a couple is needed to change the angular momentum of a body. It therefore follows that spinning objects are more stable than ones that do not spin. For this reason a spin pass in rugby is more likely to go straight, rifle barrels are grooved (rifled) to make the bullets spin in flight and satellites are given a spin when they are launched from the space shuttle.

 
 
 
© Keith Gibbs 2007