Experiment 103

Moment of Inertia

Analysis
Moment of inertia is the measure of the rotational inertia of rigid body. It is
the resistance of a rigid body to any change in its rotational motion about a
specified axis. It is a scalar quantity, is the rotational equivalent of mass. The
objectives of this experiment are to determine the moment
of inertia of a disk about an axis through its center
perpendicular to its plane and to determine the moment of
inertia of a disk about an axis through its center
perpendicular to its plane.
The moment of inertia of the disk is greater than the
ring because the radius of the disk is bigger than the radius
of the ring. For this reason, the values calculated can be
obtain which shows that the moment of inertia of the disk is bigger. The moment
of inertia of the disk is greater than the ring even though the masses are almost the
same because the mass of the disk is equally distributed than the ring where its
weight is far from the axis of the rotation. The moment of inertia of the disk is
greater when it is rotated about the center compared when it is rotated about its
diameter because the mass distributed is far from the axis rotation, hence, it is
greater when the inertia is rotated to the center.
The materials that were used for this experiment are 1 set of rotating
platforms, 1-piece of disk, 1-piece of photogate, 1-piece of smart timer, 1-piece
smart pulley, 1 set of weights, 1-piece of mass hanger, 1-piece of Vernier caliper,
and 1-piece of ruler.
The moment of inertia of a particle rotating about an axis is given by the
expression,
I = mr2 (Equation 1)
Where m is the mass of the particle and r is the shortest or perpendicular distance
relative to the axis of rotation. For a group of particles,
I = ∑𝑁
𝑖=1 = m1r1 + m2r2 + m3r3 + … (Equation 2)
2 2 2
One point mass m on a weightless rod of radius r(I=mr2):

Two point masses on a weightless rod (I= m1r12 + m2r22):

For a rigid body consisting of continuous distribution of mass, the moment of
inertia can be computed by taking the integral of the masses relative to the axis of
rotation,
I = ∫ 𝑟 2 𝑑𝑚 (Equation 3)
The differential mass dm can be expressed in terms of elemental volume dV
and the density 𝜌. Recall that density is mass per unit volume, 𝜌 = 𝑑𝑚/𝑑𝑉.
Equation 3 can be written as
I = ∫ 𝑟 2 𝜌 𝑑𝑉 (Equation 4)
If the density of the body is uniform,
I = 𝜌 ∫ 𝑟 2 𝑑𝑉 (Equation 5)
Newton’s Second Law of Motion for a Rotating Rigid Body. The ability of a
force to rotate a body about an axis is a quantity called torque. Mathematically,
torque=force x lever arm
𝜏=𝐹𝑥𝑑 (Equation 6)
Consider a rigid body that consisting of particles at various distances from
the axis of rotation, which is acted upon by an applied force F.
From Newton’s second law, Fnet = ma
And multiplying the above equation R yields
Fnet x R = m R a
The tangential acceleration a is equal to the product of radius and angular
acceleration a , a = R a and Fnet x R = 𝜏net
𝜏net = m R2a
Recall that mR2 is moment of inertia I. Thus, newton’s second law of motion for
rigid body is
𝜏net = I a (Equation 7)
The experiment that was done was all about the Moment of Inertia. There
are four parts of the experiment which Determines the Moment of Inertia of a ring
and disk, a disk alone, a ring alone all rotated about its center and the disk
rotated about its diameter. The objective were To Determine the mass moment of
inertia of a disk and a ring and to compare the moment of inertia of solid disk at
two different axes: at the center and along its diameter. All the parts of the
experiment have the same procedures which are just putting a corresponding mass
on the mass hanger and let the disk or ring rotate and the moment of inertia is
computed afterwards. The only difference is that in the first part was the ring and
disk rotated together, the second was the disk along and the next is the ring alone
and lastly, the disk is again rotated but the axis is with respect to its diameter.
The concept that was applied during the experiment was of course the
Moment of Inertia. It was the one being tested all throughout the process. The disk
resists the force that the mass hanger is exerting on it and the resistance is the
Moment of Inertia. Though the masses of both the objects are almost the same, it’s
not the only factor to be considered since their radius is also different. Moreover,
the position of the axis of rotation changes the Moment of Inertia because of the
distribution of its mass. And lastly, Torque is present during the experiment since
the body rotates in an axis.

Conclusion
Due to the external forces which are the place of the axis rotation or the
distance of the axis, the moment of inertia will not be constant even if the mass of
a rigid body is constant. The cause of the changes on the rotational motion of a
rigid body is due to the net torque. The moment of inertia is related to angular
acceleration from the equation of torque where it is the product of moment of
inertia and the angular acceleration.
The moment of inertia is greater than the ring than for the disk because even
though a disk and a ring have equal mass and radius, the mass of the ring is
distributed equally at a distance which is the same to the radius of the ring. The
moment of inertia for the disk is lesser because most of the mass lies closer to the
axis of rotation.
The factors that affect the moment of inertia of a rigid body is some factors
that could affect the moment of inertia of a rigid body are the distance of the axis
of rotation, the distribution of mass of the body and the density and radius of the
body being rotated.
 Torque is the ability of a force to rotate a body about an axis. The rotational
motion of a body changes due to the torque that the body is experiencing. The
moment of inertia is related to angular acceleration because as torque is applied to
an object it will rotate with acceleration inversely proportional to its moment of
inertia.
Meanwhile, our computed % difference on Table 1 Determination of
Moment of Inertia of Disk (rotated about the center) was 1.8251. While percent
difference on Table 2 Determination of Moment of Inertia of Disk (rotated about
the diameter) was 1.9227.