SCRIBD- Torque and Rotational Inertia

Physics Laboratory Report(102A)
Lab 127: Torque and Rotational Inertia
Name: XXX XXXX
Date of Experiment: 4/4/2024 Date of Report Submission: 4/10/2024
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 OBJECTIVES
1. To experimentally determine the rotational inertia of a rotating body by measuring its angular
acceleration and applying the relation ∑ τ = 𝐼𝑎
2. To practice computation of rotational inertias for objects of different shapes (different mass distributions)
1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

When a force is exerted on a rigid object pivoted about an axis, the object tends to rotate about that axis. The
tendency of a force to rotate an object about some axis is measured by a quantity called torque . The
magnitude of a single torque associated with the force F is defined by
(1) τ = Fr⊥
where F force, shortest distance between the line of F and axis of rotation. If the force F accelerates (or tries
to rotate) a body counterclockwise the torque is positive, negative otherwise.
If a rigid object free to rotate about a fixed axis has a net external torque, acting on it, the object undergoes a
rotational motion with an angular acceleration. This rotational motion could be described by
(2) ∑ τ = 𝐼𝑎
where 𝐼 is the rotational inertia of the object about this fixed axis.
This equation is the rotational analog to Newton's second law in the particle under a net force model.
Rotational inertia I is a measure of the rigid object's resistance to changes to its rotation about the fixed axis,
and it plays much the same role in rotational dynamics as mass does in linear dynamics.
The rotational inertia of a rigid object (a system of particles) is defined as
2
(3) 𝐼 = ∑ 𝑚𝑖𝑟𝑖
𝑖
where is the mass of the ith particle and is its distance from the rotation axis
Once the mass distribution of an object relative to the rotation axis is known, the rotational inertia of the object
rotating around this rotation axis could be calculated. For the same object, when the rotation axis is different,
its rotational inertia will be different. For an object with a symmetric shape, the calculation of the rotational
inertia could be greatly simplified, resulting in a simple formula. In this case, once the mass and dimensions of
the object are known, its rotational inertia could then be calculated using the relevant formula.
To experimentally determine the rotational inertia of a rotating body such as a hollow cylinder, a disk, and/or a
metal bar in this lab, a known torque is applied to the rotating body and the resulting angular acceleration, a ,
is measured. Since ∑ τ = 𝐼𝑎
τ
(4) 𝐼 = 𝑎
where is the torque caused by the weight hanging from the string which is wrapped around the 3-step pulley
of the rotational apparatus
(5) τ = 𝑟𝑇
where r is the radius of the pulley about which the string is wound and T is the tension in the string when the
apparatus is rotating Also, a=ra, where "a" is the linear acceleration of the of the string
Applying Newton's Second Law for the hanging mass, m, gives
(6) 𝐹 = Σ𝐹 = 𝑚𝑔 − 𝑇 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑛𝑒𝑡
Once the angular acceleration of the rotating body is found, the linear acceleration of the hanging mass (a=ra)
and then the tension of the string (eq.6) could be determined, so the torque applied (eq 5) could be obtained
for the calculation of the rotational inertia (eq.4).
2 EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
Experiment Set-up:
Procedures:
Variables: The aluminum disk was attached to the system at all types and the only changing variable was the
Disk, Ring, and Bar
In Part I, we used the theoretical moment of inertia formulas to calculate the theoretical rotational inertia of the
Disk, Ring, and Bar.
In Part II, we set up the pulley system, connected the sensor and turned on Capstone to track the experimental
moment of inertia. We placed the Disk, Ring, and Bar on the aluminum disk to measure its angular velocity and
time, which Capstone charted, and on the other end of the pulley we had a string and mass. We then
calculated the experimental rotational inertia of the DIsk, Ring, and Bar using the angular acceleration we
found from each experiment.
3 RESULTS
Chart 1: Angular Acceleration of the System
Angular Velocity (rad/s) vs Time (s)
Chart 2: Angular Acceleration of the Disk

Chart 3: Angular Acceleration of the Ring
Chart 4: Angular Acceleration of the Bar

3.1 CALCULATION
Part I Theoretical Rotational Inertia:
Part II Experimental Rotational Inertia:
4 ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION

In both parts of this lab, the rotational inertia was calculated both theoretically and experimentally. The
formulas to find the rotational inertia of a disk, ring, and bar allow for the computation of each object's
rotational inertia.
The sensor that collected the angular velocity may not have collected perfect data.This is because the sensor
cannot perfectly collect the data, much less the speed of which the string and mass was going. As such the
angular velocity may be different in actuality.
The objectives for this lab was to (1) experimentally determine the rotational inertia of a rotating body by
measuring its angular acceleration and applying the relation ∑ τ=Ia and to (2) practice computation of rotational
inertias for objects of different shapes (different mass distributions). Objective 1 was met during Part II of the
lab, where we used the pulley system created to find the rotational inertia of the Disk, Ring, and Bar afterward
we applied ∑ τ=Ia to find the torque. Objective 2 was met during Part I of the lab, where we calculated the
theoretical interias of the Disk, Ring, and Bar.
Lab Manual Questions:

1. How good is your experimental result compared to the theoretical one? What could be the possible
error sources?
Compared to the theoretical result, our experiential data is off. This may be because of the data received from
the sensor and Capstone, or because of human error in performing the calculations. The theoretical results
also don’t take into account outsider factors that may be affecting the experimental data.
2. Discuss the possible error incurred by ignoring the rotational inertias of the pulley (see Figure 4).
By ignoring the rotational inertias of the pulley, any results gained for the experiment are subject to being
affected from the acceleration of the pulley and its inertia, and the friction that the pulley and string go create.
5 CONCLUSIONS
In this experiment, we learned how to calculate rotational inertia of a disk, ring, and bar both theoretically and
experimentally. The relationship between torque and rotational motion was better understood and witnessed
when experimenting in Part II. Torque plays a crucial role in the dynamics of rotations, as it is directly
correlated to the rotation of an object.
Some questions that are raised after performing the lab are: In what situations can torque and rotational inertia
be applied? What are some scenarios that involve rotational inertia in the real-world? How can knowing the
rotational inertia of an object be utilized?
To improve the experiment, a more reliable method to measure the angular velocity produced by the disk, bar,
and ring should be used. This should help in calculating more accurate data and theoretical rotational inertia.

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Physics Laboratory Report(102A)

Lab 127: Torque and Rotational Inertia

Name: XXX XXXX

Date of Experiment: 4/4/2024 Date of Report Submission: 4/10/2024

1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

The rotational inertia of a rigid object (a system of particles) is defined as

Applying Newton's Second Law for the hanging mass, m, gives

Chart 2: Angular Acceleration of the Disk

Chart 4: Angular Acceleration of the Bar

4 ANALYSIS and DISCUSSION

Lab Manual Questions:

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