NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

1ST YEAR COMMON ENGINEERING COURSE

Formal Report of Experiment M1:

Moment of Inertia in Rigid Body Motion

Laboratory: Mechanics of Machines (MAE)

Location: N3-B1c-03

Name: Fan Weiming

Group: AL27

Matriculation Number: U1022545A

Date of submission: 28/10/2010

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 Content
Topics Page
1. Introduction
2. Objectives
3. Theory

4. Equipment List

5. Experiment Procedure

6. Results

7. Discussion

8. Conclusion

9. References

10. Appendix

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1. Introduction
Applying Newton’s second law to a rigid body rotating about a fixed axis leads to
T=I ∝
where T is the torque about the axis, ∝is the angular acceleration, and Iis the
mass moment of inertia of the body about the axis. Just as mass is a measure of
inherent property of resistance to translation, moment of inertia is a measure of
inherent tendency to resist rotational motion.

While it is fairly intuitive to appreciate the physical significance of the first

moment of mass, it is more difficult to do the same for the second moment, or
moment of inertia. However, from this experiment, the effect and determination
of moment of inertia in rigid body motion will be demonstrated and investigated.

2. Objectives

Understand the effect of moment of inertia in rotational motion of rigid bodies

and to determine experimentally the moments of inertia of some objects about
an axis.

3. Theory
3.1 Moment of Inertia

Consider a body of mass m which is to be rotated about a fixed axis AA’ (Fig.
1a). Dividing the body into elements of mass ∆m1, ∆m2 etc., the rotational
resistance of the body can be measured by the sum r12∆m1 + r22∆m2 + … This
sum therefore defines the moment of inertia of the body with respect to the axis
AA’. Increasing the number of elements, the moment of inertia is equal at the
limit, to the integral over the domain of the body Ω:

IA= Ωr2dm
(1)

This mathematical definition can be used to compute the moment of inertia of

machine members, and tables are available in mechanics text and handbooks
that contain expressions for moments of inertia determined this way for standard
shapes. In Appendix A, it is seen that for the same geometric shape, the moment
of inertia can be different for different axis. However, experimental methods of
determination are often used for complex shapes, such as connecting rods and
cams. Note that the moment of inertia of a body depends on the particular
reference axis as well as on the shape fo the body and the manner in which its
mass is distributed. The moment of inertia is expressed in units of kgm2.

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