Q7.33 Separation of Motion of a system of particles into motion of the centre of mass and motion about the
centre of mass :
(c) Show
where
is the angular momentum of the system about the centre of mass with velocities taken relative to the centre of mass. Remember ; rest of the notation is the standard notation used in the chapter. Note and can be said to be angular momenta, respectively, about and of the centre of mass of the system of particles.
The position vector of the ith particle (with respect to the center of mass) is given by :
or
From the first case we can write :
Taking cross product with position vector we get ;
or
or