Torque

When you swing your legs forward and throw your head back to get the swing to go, you are creating a torque on your body. At the points where the potential energy is at its maximum, the angular momentum is zero. Then at the bottom of the arc as you go forward, the kinetic energy is at its highest and potential is at zero, you will have a positive angular momentum. This process reverses as you go backward, so your angular momentum is now negative. In this process the angular momentum is conserved because your legs and head are applying a torque to you.

• To calculate the angular momentum we use the equation: L=Iω where "L" is the angular momentum, "I" is the moment of inertia, and "ω" is the angular velocity.
• To calculate the torque we would use τ=rFsinθ where "r" is the position, "F" is the force, and "θ" is the angle.