Does the outer edge of a spinning object spin faster than its centre?

Depending on the nature of the object, the speed of its spinning increases as you move away from the centre of the object.


Asked by: Robin Harden, Camberley

The absolute centre of a spinning object is stationary, but the way in which speed increases with distance from the centre depends on the nature of the object. For rigid objects like snooker balls, the speed of spinning - that is, the number of degrees moved through each second - is constant right through. But for fluid objects such as the Sun, that speed varies with distance in complex ways.

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