A rigid cone rolls on a very rough, horizontal surface (rough enough to prevent it from sliding) and its center of mass follows a circular trajectory.
Suppose the angular velocity of the center of mass of the cone is , and the angular velocity at which the cone rotates as seen by someone in the reference frame of the center of mass is .
What is the ratio of to ?
Note: The angle between the cone's base and slant height is
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Let the slant height of the cone and the radius of the base of the cone be l and r respectively.
The circumference of the big circle is C = 2 π l , and the circumference of the base of the cone is c = 2 π r .
The center of mass of the cone takes time t = Ω 2 π to complete one revolution about the vertex of the cone. During this time, the point of contact between the cone and the ground moves a distance of 2 π l . This means that the circular base makes c C = r l revolutions, or rotates by 2 π r l radians.
This implies that the circular base is rotating with angular velocity Ω 2 π 2 π r l = r l Ω . However, we know that this is equal to ω . Thus, we can equate them:
ω = r l Ω ⟹ ω Ω = l r = cos β