Merits of Advanced Placement Reexamined
DOI: 10.1063/1.4796615
I was surprised that, in the article on advanced physics in high schools, the expression circular momentum and rotation appears in the table on page 51 in item E under “Newtonian mechanics.” The correct term is angular momentum, which is related to the general motion of a particle. Angular momentum is not necessarily circular and is certainly not a rotation. Even a particle with rectilinear motion has angular momentum relative to any point not on its path. Although the rotation of a body also has angular momentum, that is the aggregate of the angular momentum of each of the particles composing the body. I hope that those interested in improving physics education in high schools get their physics straight.
More about the authors
Marcelo Alonso, (malonso14@cfl.rr.com) Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Florida, US .
