Rotation Energy and Moment of Inertia

Tenzin singey, Experiment performed on 25 July 2017

Introduction
Rotational motion is everywhere. When you push a door, it rotates. When you pedal a bike, the
wheel rotates. When you start an engine, many parts rotate. Electrons rotate in an atom. H2O
molecules rotate in a microwave (and thereby cook the food!). Galaxies rotate in the Universe.
Here we are using linear motion to describe rotational motion, but it is not convenient, since the
linear velocity and acceleration depends on the distance from a rotation axis. In fact, angular
quantities can be used to describe rotational kinematics and dynamics in (almost) complete
analogy with linear kinematics and dynamics. The angular displacement of a rigid object rotating
about a xed axis is the angle the object turns, .
This experiment can be done using a system, which consists of a rotating disc that can be set in
motion by a falling cylindrical block attached to the hub of the disc by a length of string.
To link up the motion of the falling block to the rotation of the disc, conservation of energy, As the
block falls, the gravitational potential energy of the block is transformed into the kinetic energy of
the falling block, and the rotational kinetic energy of the disc and its hub. So at any time during
the fall of the block[1]:

Mgh = 0.5mv2 + 0.5I02 - (1)

where m is the mass of the block, h the height it has fallen, v its velocity, I0 the moment of inertia
of the disc and hub, and the angular velocity of the disc. Unlike mass, the moment of inertia is
not a single number for a particular object. The moment of inertia of an object depends on the
axis of rotation and the mass distribution of the object.[2] Since, the angular velocity is given by
the rate of change of angular position of a rotating body, and v can be express in terms of
angular velocity as angular velocity times the radius. Rearranging the equation (1) in terms of
moment of inertia;
I0= mr(gt2/4 - r) -(2)

Where g is the acceleration due to gravity otherwise all the variables are same.
We can use the conservation of moment of inertia to find the additional mass (M) that we have
attached to the disc by finding the total moment of inertia, which is the combined moment of
inertia and the disc and the moment of inertia of the disc itself. By conservation of moment of
inertia, the total moment of inertia, Itotal, is equal to the sum of moment of inertia of the Disc, I0 ,
and the moment of inertia of the attached mass, Im;
Itotal = I0 + Im
Itotal = I0 + MR2 -(3)
Where M is the additional mass that is going to attached and R is distance between the centre of
the disc to the attached mass.

Method
To investigate this model we used a system consisting of Rotating disc with detachable masses
and we connected the Digital timer with the photogate on the rotational apparatus. On the rim of
the disc there is a series of a hole, where we can attach a mass and one with exceptional size, a
small hole. When this hole passes the photo gate, light from a laser diode illuminates a sensor
and the timer starts. The timer stops when the laser light passes through the hole a second time;
so the apparatus can be used to time one revolution of the disc. We then hanged a metal weight
by a piece of string from a clamp attached to a retort stand, as shown in Figure 1. We measured
the diameter of the hub where string is going to wind by using Vernier Calipers, then we wind the
string around the hub. As the mass is released, its gravitational potential energy is transformed
into kinetic energy of the falling mass and the rotational energy of the disc. We set the timer to
zero and released the disc with the hole positioned just before it passes the photo gate because
the minute hole passes the photo gate, it triggers the digital timer. We also ensured the falling
mass does not hit the table before the disk has completed the timed rotation otherwise there will
be no complete conversion of the linear motion to rotational motion, although disc continues to
rotate to but it is simply Newtons law of inertia. Disc will remain in its motion but gradually stops
as friction and other resistance forces encounters. We did this four times to minimized error in
measuring time and took the average time to calculate the moment of inertia, I0.

In second part, we attached a mass at different locations on the disc to see the difference in
moment of inertia. By conservation of moment of inertia, the total moment of inertia, which is
mass attached, equal to the moment of inertia of the disc and the moment of inertia of the
attached mass. We then measured the time taken for one revolution for three times using the
same technique as we did before. Then we used the average time as a known variable and
evaluate for mass M using equation 3.

Figure 1[1]
Results and Analysis
We measured the radius of hub where the string was winded around to be 0.05 0.0005m, the
mass of the weighted object to be 0.1963 0.0001kg, the acceleration due to gravitational to be
9.81 0.01 m/s2 [3], t is the average time of all the measurements that was taken, the attached
weight to be 0.6225 0.0001kg.
Table 1:- Data of times
Distance from the Time per revolution
centre with mass
attached in m
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3 Trial 4 Average
No mass attached 2.361 2.338 2.330 2.335 2.341
0.188 4.160 4.169 4.221 n/a 4.183
0.150 3.737 3.678 3.682 n/a 3.699
0.125 3.433 3.287 3.296 n/a 3.340
0.089 2.978 3.035 3.682 n/a 2.984

In Table 1, all the time measurements are in seconds with an uncertainty of 0.001s, which is
half the smallest measurement of the laser timer.
Table 2:- Data of Moment of Inertia
Distance from the Moment of Inertia I
centre with mass in Kg.m2
attached in m
No mass attached 0.0415 0.0011
0.188 0.1334 0.0034
0.150 0.1042 0.0027
0.125 0.0849 0.0022
0.089 0.0678 0.0018

In Table 2, by using the equation (2), I have calculated the moment of inertia of the disc and the
combined moment of inertia of the disc and the mass attached at different locations from the
centre. I have used the data from Table 1 to evaluate the value and I found the moment of inertia
of the disc, I0, to be 0.0415 0.0011 Kg.m2.

From equation (3), additional mass, M, can be found as the gradient of graph Itotal vs I0. Where
the I0 is the intercept of Itotal , squared of the distance (R2) of the attached mass from the centre
of the disc as the independent variable and Itotal is the dependent variable. By using LINEST
function in Microsoft Excel, the attached mass M is found to be 0.4736 0.0702 kg and moment
of inertia of the disc, I0, is 0.0341 0.0090 Kg.m2.
Discussion
We first calculated the mass of the falling object using measuring scale, we measured the radius
of the hub, where string is going to wind and then we measured the time taken for one revolution
four times. Later, I have used the average values of time to calculate the moment of inertia of the
disc alone. Although we measured the time using digital timer which is far accurate than human
with stop watch, but interestingly all the time values have few milliseconds of variation. Which is
directly linked to the point of release that is how far the disc with the hole have we positioned just
before it passes the photo gate? Have we been consistent with releasing the disc with the hole at
same position all the time? This have directly effects on measuring the time because the falling
mass will keep on accelerating throughout the fall, thus producing variable tangential velocity. If
we release the disc with the hole positioned just before it passes photogate will take slightly
longer time to complete one revolution than releasing the disc with the hole positioned further
before it passes photogate. Newtons Law of inertia states that the disc have tendency to remain
in its state of rest, thus demands more energy to start rotating than the when it is already
rotating. For the second part, we measured the mass of the weight that is going to attached
using scale and then I have used the equation 3 to evaluate the attached mass. When we
measured the distance of the added mass from the center, we used ruler to measure the
distance. We repeat the same method to measure the time taken for one revolution as we did in
previous part, we found larger variation in time in terms of milliseconds. And also we can not
neglect the some of the potential energy being transformed into friction inside the barrels inside
the hub and heat energy.

Conclusion
We measured the moment of inertia of the disc, I0, to be 0.0415 0.0011 Kg.m2 using the
equation 2 and 0.0341 0.0090 Kg.m2 using equation 3. We also measured the additional mass
that we have attached to be 0.6225 0.0001kg using weighing scale and 0.4736 0.0702 kg by
using equation 3. Our theoretically and calculated values are consistent within the three standard
uncertainty. To confirm the accuracy of the model more precisely, we could repeat the
experiment using proper technique of releasing the disc hole. Such precise measurements could
be compared against a model that incorporates friction and air resistance.
References
[1] PHS1022 Laboratory Manual, School of Physics & Astronomy, Monash University. Orientation
(2017), Experimental all weeks: Rotation(Energy & moment),
[2] Physics for Scientists and Engineers: A Strategic Approach with Modern Physics, Global
Edition(4e),15/09/2016, Randall D. Knight, Pearson Higher Ed USA,Title: Application of Newton
Mechanics.
[3]https://www.google.com.au/search?safe=active&q=gravity+value+uncertainty&oq=gravity+value+wi
th+uncer&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i22i30k1.3555.7664.0.9731.11.11.0.0.0.0.318.1076.2-
3j1.4.0....0...1.1.64.psy-ab..7.3.756...0.Id-oMb0P7ng
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