OK, I know this is pretty basic stuff, but I can't seem to figure it out.
If I am hanging on for dear life on a really fast merry-go-round, the
system (me and the merry-go-round) has a certain amount of angular
momentum. If I let go, I will shoot off on a straight line, tangent to the
merry-go-round's rotation. So hasn't the angular momentum of the system
decreased, since I am no longer spinning around? If so, it is not obvious
that any torque was applied to make this happen; if anything, a force was
REMOVED, i.e. the force keeping me on the merry go round when I was holding
on to it.
So what am I missing? Is the removal of a force in a rotating system
somehow equivalent to the application of a force?