Physics question - can anyone now? alex is pushing his 20.0 kg little brother on a merry-go-round with a radius of 2.0 meters. if his little brother is on the edge of the merry-go-round and has an angular momentum of 360 kg m2/s, what is his speed?

Givens: m=20kg r=2.0m L=360 kg m^2/s

Unknown: Speed . (But there are two "types of speed" which are angular speed and linear speed and ARE DIFFERENT)

Formulas: L=Iω  Angular momentum = inertia x angular velocity (L=Iω)

I=mr^2; ω=v/r  

Therefore, L=r^2m * v/r = rmv

L=rmv

360=20*2*v

360/(20*2) =v

360/40= v

v=9m/s (linear tangent speed)  

Angular velocity ω= v/r  

ω= 9/2

ω= 4.5rads/s (angular speed)

In other words, both 9 and 4.5 should be right if explained correctly.

well, you would divide 135 by 33 to get your answer. then that is how many seconds it would take. boardman should fly about 132 m or 4.090909090909091 seconds.