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Q.If the radius of earth suddenly decreases to its half while mass remains constant, then day-night will be (A) 24 hours
(B) 12 hours
(C) 6 hours
(D) 4 hours

Bihar BsebBihar Board Intermediate 1st Year 2025MCQ· 1mImportance★★★★★
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If earth's radius halves (mass unchanged), the day shortens from 24 hours to 6 hours by conservation of angular momentum.

Treating the earth as a uniform sphere, moment of inertia I=25MR2I = \dfrac{2}{5}MR^2. If R→R/2R \to R/2 while MM stays the same:

Inew=25M(R2)2=14⋅25MR2=Iold4I_{new} = \dfrac{2}{5}M\left(\dfrac{R}{2}\right)^2 = \dfrac{1}{4}\cdot\dfrac{2}{5}MR^2 = \dfrac{I_{old}}{4}

With no external torque, angular momentum L=IωL = I\omega is conserved:

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