Newtonian Mechanics – Newton’s Second Law for Rotating Body with Changing Mass

angular momentumforcesnewtonian-mechanicsrotational-dynamicsrotational-kinematics

Newton's second law for a body with changing mass given as $$F=ma + \frac{dm}{dt}v$$ I need the version for rotational motion. By inspection, it seems that it would be $$\tau = I\alpha + \frac{dI}{dt}\omega$$

I tried to prove this by starting from force equals the change in momentum.
$$F=\frac{d}{dt}(mv)$$
$$F=\frac{d}{dt}(mr\omega)$$
$$Fr=\frac{d}{dt}(mr\omega)r$$
$$\tau=\frac{d}{dt}(mr^2\omega)$$
$$\tau = I\alpha + \frac{dI}{dt}\omega$$

Is this proof correct? I'm specifically not sure if $\frac{d}{dt}(mr\omega)r \to \frac{d}{dt}(mr^2\omega)$ is allowed.

Best Answer

Torque equals the rate of change of angular momentum. Differentiate the angular momentum to get the answer. And your method is not correct. Don't treat vectors like scalars. That is simply not allowed.

$$\vec{L} = I\vec{\omega} $$

Using your method, you would need to differentiate this way

$$\tau = \frac{d }{dt} (\vec{r} \times m \vec{v})$$