The Right Hand Rule for Angular Velocity and Angular Displacement

The angular right hand rule is defined and repeatedly demonstrated: curl the fingers of your right hand in the direction an object is rotating, and your thumb points in the direction of its angular velocity and angular displacement. Clockwise and counterclockwise aren't good enough for physics because they're observer-dependent — two people looking at the same spinning turntable from opposite sides will disagree on which way it's turning — but the right hand rule gives the same, unambiguous direction no matter where you're standing. That direction is always normal (perpendicular) to the plane in which the object is rotating, which is why a turntable spinning on a horizontal plane has an angular velocity pointing straight up or down, not sideways. Want Lecture Notes? http://www.flippingphysics.com/right-... 0:00 Intro, and Prepping for the Right Hand Rule 1:27 Examples 1 and 2 3:01 Why We Don't Use Clockwise and Counterclockwise 4:09 Examples 3 Through 6 5:38 Clarifying the Direction Next Video: A Tale of Three Accelerations http://www.flippingphysics.com/3-acce... Previous Video: Minimum Speed for Water in a Bucket Revolving in a Vertical Circle http://www.flippingphysics.com/water-... Please support me on Patreon!   / flippingphysics   Thank you to Scott Carter, Aarti Sangwan, and Christopher Becke for being my Quality Control Team for this video. http://flippingphysics.com/quality-co... #APPhysicsC #RightHandRule #AngularVelocity Curriculum Standards: AP Physics C: Mechanics, Unit 5 Torque and Rotational Dynamics, Topic 5.3 Torque 5.3.B.2.ii: "The direction of the vector resulting from the cross-product of vectors A and B is perpendicular to both vectors A and B and therefore is normal to the plane defined by vectors A and B." 5.3.B.2.iii: "The direction of the vector resulting from the cross-product of vectors A and B can be qualitatively determined by applying the appropriate right-hand rule." MCAT, General Mathematical Concepts and Techniques General Math Concepts [Right-Hand Rule]: "Demonstrate a general understanding of vector addition and subtraction and the right-hand rule (knowledge of dot and cross products is not required)."