Question 05/96

When hockey puck is sliding on the ice it usually performs both linear motion (translation) and rotation. One notices, that the rotation stops exactly at the same moment as the center of mass comes to rest, i.e. the translation ends. Why?

This question was raised by several high-school, college and university teachers on physics discussion list at listserv@uwf.bitnet in 1989. It is related to a question which appears in Resnick and Halliday book. However, even before that it has been considered by a number of physicists.

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