wrote in message
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[snip]
We let the attached rod and cylinder rotate for however long is
necessary to achieve a steady-state condition for the shape of the
rod. We then change the chemical composition of the attached rod so
that it is no longer malleable. It becomes rigid and fixed in that
shape and requires an extremely large force to change its shape.

Now, after this occurs, at time t1 as measured in the moving frame,
each attachment point which connects the rod to the rotating cylinder
is eliminated so that the rod is no longer attached to the cylinder.
Let's say this occurs at the instant (as measured in the moving frame)
when all the y coordinates of the rod are zero so that the rod begins
moving only in the X-Y plane. Observers in the moving frame measure a
straight rod traveling in the X-Y plane, and this rod has zero
rotation rate.


Did you mean to say 'when all the *z* coordinates of the rod are zero...' ?

Also, why would the z-component of motion suddenly cease when the
attachments are eliminated at the instant the rod is in the X-Y plane?

Max