Determining A Wheels Resistance To Acceleration

-- For those with basic math skills and little knowledge of physics Introduction: Over my 5 years of experience working in a bike store, Ive often seen the crazed bicyclist who will spend a thousand dollars to have a bike thats 1/2lb. lighter. It doesnt have to be that way; you can cut costs by reducing weight in places that are most significant. Having that extra 1/2lb. is on the rear wheel would be more detrimental than having an extra 1/2lb in a pair of shifters because a wheel has to have rotational acceleration (angular acceleration) and accelerate forward (translational acceleration) whereas a shifter would only have to accelerate forward. Having an extremely light wheel isnt all that matters. What matters is the placement of mass around the axis of the wheel. For instance, you could have two different wheels with a mass of 1000grams, one with 1/2 of the mass located in the rim/tire and 1/2 of the mass in hub that is easier to accelerate than a wheel with 3/4 of the mass located in the rim/tire and 1/4 of the mass in the hub. The rule to obtaining a wheel is not only buying one with less mass, but also one that takes less force to accelerate is by choosing a wheelset with the mass distributed as near to the axis of the wheel as possible. I embarked on finding an easy way to experimentally determine the Moment of inertia of wheels admittedly for my own selfish purpose. I have two rear wheels for my track bike one disc wheel and one spoked wheel. I knew that the disc wheel is more massive with 1643grams with tire/tube compared to the spoked wheel with less mass of 1528 grams with tire/tube. After performing this experiment, I found out that the disc wheel has less resistance to angular acceleration and is therefore takes less effort to bring the wheel up to the desired speed. It seems counterintuitive that a wheel with more mass is easier to accelerate, but in this instance, the opposite is true. Any wheel with a lower moment of inertia requires less leverage to accelerate. Mass of disc wheel = 1643grams or 1.643kilograms Moment of Inertia of disc wheel = 0.0919kgm2 (kilograms times meters squared) Mass of spoked wheel = 1528grams or 1.528kilograms Moment of Inertia of spoked wheel = .0973kgm2 *** For those who have greater knowledge of math: Calculate the total kinetic energy (energy of motion) of a wheel with the formula:

KEtotal = 1/2I(v/R)2 + 1/2mv2

Where I = moment of inertia, v = velocity of the center of the wheel in meters per second, m = mass of the wheel, and R = the radius of the wheel, KErot = Rotational Kinetic Energy, KEtrans = translational kinetic energy (energy associated with moving forward). I calculated the total energy of both wheels rolling without slipping at 23mph, or 10.3m/s:

Wheel KErot = 1/2I(v/R)2 KEtrans = 1/2mv2 KEtotal in Joules Disc 42.7 J 87.2 J 130 J Spoked 45.2 J 81.0 J 126 J
Even though the disc wheel has a lower moment of inertia, it still has greater mass and has a greater amount of energy than the spoked wheel traveling at the same speed. This means that I would have to expend at least 130 Joules of energy into the disc wheel to get it to travel at 10.3m/s whereas the spoked wheel only requires 126 Joules. The difference isnt huge and could easily be cancelled or expanded slightly with the uncertainty in calculating the I value. What I take away from this experiment is that the difference of mass and the distribution of it is negligible for these two wheels and I shouldnt be afraid to use either one.

Things to think about before performing this experiment: The tire you use affects moment of inertia. Perform this experiment with the tire/ tube system for your intended purpose. Heavier tires raise moment of inertia. You could find the moment of inertia of just a wheel without a tire. You could modify the experiment to find the effects that different tires have on moment of inertia instead. This experiment isnt perfect and could only somewhat accurately determine the difference in the I values if the tires had a large difference of mass. Ex. (700mm X 18mm) versus a (700mm X 42mm).

Basic (incomplete) explanations of the laws governing a wheels acceleration: How do we measure a wheels resistance to acceleration? A wheels resistance to acceleration is called the moment of inertia or conveniently abbreviated as the letter I. When a wheel is involved, we use the term Leverage as a force applied to a wheel at a certain distance from the wheels center. ! (greek letter pronounced alpha) is angular acceleration, which is the rate at which the angular velocity changes. An example of angular acceleration is 2 rev/sec2. Important: When the angular velocity (revs per second) doesnt change, there is no angular acceleration. Example: When a wheel goes from 0 revs/second to 30revs/second angular acceleration occurs when a wheel goes

from 30revs/sec to 30revs/sec, no angular acceleration occurs. Using this concept in real world applications is far more difficult than it seems. Be careful not to confuse the concepts of acceleration and velocity! Leverage = Force x Radius (of the wheel) And Leverage = I x ! An example of how resistance to acceleration (I) works. Ill input random numbers and change only the I value. This should illustrate that a larger I value means that angular acceleration will be less and therefore more Leverage must be applied to cause angular acceleration. Leverage = I x ! 50 = 1.5 x ! Solve for

and it is 33units/time2

Using a larger I value and you see that angular acceleration is less. 50 = 2.0 x ! Solve for ! and it is 25units/time2 Note: Knowing a single I value isnt going to be very useful for the average person. If I told you that an I value for a wheel is .856 kgm2, it wouldnt have any significance to you. But if I told you two I values, you could tell me which would be easier to accelerate. If you perform this experiment, youll need to find the I value for two different wheels to find out which wheel has less resistance to angular acceleration. After you have a basis for comparison, you can perform this experiment so that you can choose which wheels to use for maximum performance. Materials needed to determine a wheels moment of inertia. 1) A Wheel (duh!). The wheel has to have very, very, very little friction from the bearings. If youre this interested in maximizing performance, Im assuming you already have a wheelset with good bearings. Dont use a wheel that barely spins! 2) A piece of ribbon that is about 1.5 inches wide and is about 7 feet long. Lighter is better when choosing ribbons. 3) A weight whose mass is known to the ones place of grams. A correct weight would be 27 grams, an incorrect weight would be roughly 20 (tens place)grams. I would suggest a weight of 15-30grams to reduce error in recording time.

4)

5) 6)

7)

Anything you can do to increase the time weight falls will reduce error in recording time. Anything to hold wheel and ensure that the center of the wheel does not move. I used a frame and you could use a fork if youre trying this on a front wheel. Ensure that nothing impedes the wheels rotation once you allow the wheel to rotate. You will have to disconnect the chain if youre trying this on a bike without taking the wheel off. A stopwatch. Needs to be able to record time to at least the hundredths place in seconds. Correct 2.03 seconds Incorrect 2 seconds. A long piece of material like a long stick whose length is known and shape doesnt change. Has to be about 1.5 2.0 meters long ( 4-6.5 feet long). Record the length to a millimeter or to the 16th of an inch. If you use feet, youll need to convert to inches, decimalize the fraction, convert to centimeters, and then to meters. Example 72 14/16th inches ! 72.875 inches ! 1inch = 2.54cm, then 72.875 inches = 185.1 centimeters ! 100 centimeters = 1meter, then 181.5cm = 1.851meters. If you have a computer, you can also use this website to find conversions - http://www.sciencemadesimple.net/conversions.html A calculator.

Procedure: See illustration on next page first. Step 1) Pump up the tire to the desired pressure, mark a reference line on any spot on the tire. Draw a straight line with chalk on the ground thats larger than what you expect the circumference of the wheel is. Roll the wheel along the line on the ground and measure the distance it is for one revolution of the wheel (the circumference). Divide this distance by 3.14 (pi) to determine the diameter. Divide the diameter by two to get Radius. The more caution you take in measuring circumference, the more accurate your I value will be. Step 2) Take one end of the ribbon and tape it to the tire. Tape the weight onto the other end of the ribbon. Wind the ribbon onto the wheel. You can do this with the wheel in the frame or out of the frame do whatever you think is easiest. Step 3) Obviously, you need to put the wheel in the frame if you have not yet done so. Step 4) Hang the frame from the ceiling or do whatever you can to ensure that the frame does not move and that the center of the wheel does not move. Hang the frame high enough so that the weight hangs from the tire at a distance greater than the height of the stick you made in the materials section of this experiment. Step 5) Place the stick under the weight. Rotate the wheel so that the weight touches the top of the stick. Make sure that the stick is standing straight up from the ground. Make

sure that the weight does not move up or down! It is best to have a friend help hold the wheel in one place or you can devise a way so that the wheel does not rotate without you yourself holding it. Remove the stick from underneath the weight at this time. Step 6) Release the whatever force you have on the wheel to allow it to rotate, thus unwrapping the ribbon and allowing the weight to fall slowly to the ground. Using a stopwatch record the amount of time it takes the weight to hit the ground. Step 7) Repeat steps 5 and 6 two more times. If the times from each trial arent very close to each other, you arent performing steps 5 and 6 carefully enough. Repeat the trials until you get at least three consecutive trial times that are close to each other. You can repeat this as many times as you want the more times you repeat steps 5 and 6, the more accurate your I value will be. Step 8) Repeat all of these steps using a different wheel or you can ask me for an I value of one of my wheels to use as a comparison. Initial Position:

Final Position:

How To Analyze Data: Part 1) Determining the acceleration of the weight as it fell. The acceleration of the weight falling down is different than angular acceleration because the weight does not rotate. We use this equation to find acceleration in this particular instance: a = Height/( 1/2t2) Height = the length of the stick a = the acceleration of the weight as it falls t = the time it took to fall Part 2) Determining the weight force and the tension force acting on the weight. There are two forces acting on the weight; the force of the gravity pulling down on the weight and the force of the ribbon pulling up on the weight. It might sound strange that the ribbon is pulling up on the weight, but think if it didnt the weight would fall

straight to the ground accelerating at the same rate as if you had just dropped the weight with no ribbon attached to it. Determining the weight force (effect of gravity on mass): 1) Convert the mass in grams to kilograms ! 1 kg = 1000grams; Ex. 16.3g = .0163kg 2) Multiply the mass of the weight by 9.8, this gives us the weight force. Determining the force of the ribbon pulling up on the weight:

Fribbon = (Weight Force) (the mass of the weight X the acceleration of the weight)
Part 3) Determining I The only Leverage were concerned about is the Leverage of the ribbon pulling down on the wheel. The force pulling down on the wheel is the same as the force of the ribbon pulling up on the weight.

Leverage =

Fribbon

Radius of wheel

Since we do not have !, we need a way of relating ! to acceleration, it is:

! = acceleration divided by the Radius, or

If you remember, Leverage = I x ! and if ! Therefore,

a/r

= (a/r), we can substitute (a/r) in for !.

Fribbon times the Radius of wheel = And more usefully,

Solve for I.

(a/Radius)

= (Fribbon X Radius)/(a/Radius)

Step 4) Average the I values you get: By calculating separate I values, you can get an idea of how the uncertainty in measuring time effects your I value. You could average the times first and then calculate one I value, but youd have no clue about how much uncertainty there is. Refer to my calculations (next page) if your math skills arent so hot. Obviously, your numbers will be different than mine with the exception of finding the weight force

(gravity) you will always multiply your mass by 9.8 to determine the weight force of anything relatively close to the earth.

Advice on interpreting my calculations and performing your own:

X means multiply, not the letter X

Means division Example 1/2 is a fraction, it means 1 divided by 2 -- a/r means acceleration divided by Radius. Anything between parentheses ( ) means that you calculate whatevers inside of them first. Always square a number before doing anything else to it

Example 1/2 (4)2 - square four first to get sixteen, then multiply by 1/2 to get eight. If you multiplied four by 1/2 first and then squared it, you would get an answer of four

Data:
Mass of weight = 16.3grams or .0163kilograms Radius of wheel = .354m Height of stick is 1.750m

Trial # 1 2 3

Time in seconds I 4.21 .0906 4.16 .0884 4.35 .0968

Disc Wheel Calculations:

Finding the Radius: Circumference of my wheel is 212.6cm ! Divide by 100 to get circumference in meters, and it is 2.126m. ! Divide by 3.14, and you get diameter, which is .676m ! divide diameter by 2 to find Radius, and it is .338m

Step 1 - Finding acceleration of the weight: a = height/ ( ! t2) ! Find t2 - it is the same as t times t. 4.21 times 4.21 = 17.72 ! multiply t2 by 1/2 or .5 17.72 times .5 = 8.86

! Divide height of stick (in meters) by 1/2 t2 1.75/8.86 = .197

! a = .197 m/s2 (rounded to three digits)

Step 2 - Finding the force that the ribbon places upon the weight and wheel. ! Find the weight force Weight force = Mass of Weight X 9.8 .0163 x 9.8 = .160 Newtons ! Plug numbers into this equation: Fribbon = (Weight Force) (the mass of the weight X the acceleration of the weight) ! Calculate Fribbon Fribbon = .160 (.0163 x .197) = .1565 Newtons tip do multiplication first, then subtract ! Fribbon is .1565 Newtons - if Fribbon is a number larger than the weight force, youve screwed something up. Step 3 Finding I ! Find Leverage placed on the wheel Leverage = Fribbon x Radius of wheel

.1565 x .338 = .0529Nm (Newton meters) ! find angular acceleration (!) -

! = a/Radius of wheel

.197/.338 = .584 radians/sec2 = ! ! Divide Leverage by ! to get I .0556/.584 = .0906 kgm2 = I

Step 4) Find the average I value: I have determined my I values of the disc wheel for the times of 4.21, 4.16, and 4.35 to be .0906, .0884, and .0968 respectively. The average will be the sum of all your I values divided by the number of I values you had. (.0906 + .0884 + .0968)/ 3 = .0919kgm2