Rotational energy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Rotating objects contain
kinetic energy. An object's
rotational energy is part of its kinetic energy. Looking at rotational energy separately in an object's
centre of mass frame, one gets the following dependence on the object's
moment of inertia:
For example,
Earth has a large amount of rotational energy. Part of it can be tapped using
tidal power. This creates additional friction of the two global tidal waves, infinitesimally slowing down Earth's angular velocity
ω. Due to
conservation of
angular momentum this process transfers angular momentum to the
Moon's
orbital motion, increasing its distance from Earth and its orbital period (see
tidal locking for a more detailed explanation of this process).
