BR physics chapter 4 passage 8 question 53

[2010premed]

In experiement 1, with his arms outstretched, the student drops the weights. How can it be explained that the student's angular velocity does not change?
A: the falling weights continue to move in their circular pathway as they fall, so they retain their same angular momentum

however, the explnation in the back says: the masses fall once they are dropped, but not straight downward. They fly off from that circle in a tangential fashion, in opposite directions. Together, they exhibit no net momentum...

so do they fall in circular pathways or do they fly off in tang lines? Or am I missing something?

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[muhali3]

They fall off in a line tangent to the circle they were moving in. Their instantaneous velocity is a straight line that is tangent to the circle.

 

[2010premed]

So why does the answer say that they fall in circular paths?