Mudimeli

VM
20018746
Phy 2121
rotational inertia:ring and disk lab report
























Title
rotational inertia:ring and disk

Aim

to find the rotational inertia of a ring and a disk experimentally and to verify that these values correspond to
the calculated theoretical values

Introduction

Rotational inertia, in physics, quantitative measure of the rotational inertia of a body.the opposition that the
body exhibits to having its speed of rotation about an axis altered by the application of a torque (turning
force). The axis may be internal or external and may or may not be fixed. The moment of inertia (I), however,
is always specified with respect to that axis and is defined as the sum of the products obtained by multiplying
the mass of each particle of matter in a given body by the square of its distance from the axis.

Rotational inertia plays a similar role in rotational mechanics to mass in linear mechanics. Indeed, the
rotational inertia of an object depends on its mass. It also depends on the distribution of that mass relative to
the axis of rotation.

When a mass moves further from the axis of rotation it becomes increasingly more difficult to change the
rotational velocity of the system. Intuitively, this is because the mass is now carrying more momentum with it
around the circle (due to the higher speed) and because the momentum vector is changing more quickly. Both
of these effects depend on the distance from the axis.

the rotational inertia, I, of a ring about its center of mass is given by:

where M is the mass of the ring, R, is the inner radius of the ring, and R2 is the outer radius of the ring
.
The rotational inertia of a disk about its centre of mass is given by:

where M is the mass of the disk and R is the radius of the disk.

To find the rotational inertia experimentally, a known torque is applied to the object and the resulting angular
acceleration is measured.
where a is the angular acceleration, which is equal to a/r (a = acceleration),and T is the torque caused by the
weight hanging from the thread that is wrapped around the base of the apparatus.

where r is the radius of the pulley about which the thread is wound, and Tis the tension in the thread when the
apparatus is rotating
.
Applying Newton's Second Law for the hanging mass, m, gives

Solving for the tension in the thread gives:

Once the angular acceleration is measured, the torque and the linear acceleration can be obtained for the
calculation of the torque

Materials

Rotary Motion Sensor Mass
Hanger Set
Rotational Inertia Accessory Large Rod Base
Rod, 90 cm String Balance Calipers

Procedure

In step 1, the ring and disk were attached on top of the Rotary Motion Sensor pulley, along with the Alignment
Guide that centered the ring on the disk. This was done as shown in Figure 5. In step 2, the hanging mass was
made to be about 20 g total, including the 5-gram hanger. Then, in step 3, the angular velocity versus time was
recorded on a graph as the mass fell to the table. In step 4, the curve fit button was used on the graph to find
the straight line that best fit the data. The part of the graph where the mass was falling was selected using the
highlighter tool, so the line was fitted only to this part of the data.Step 5 involved recording the angular
acceleration of the apparatus, which was the slope of the best-fit line. The hanging mass total was also
recorded. Moving on to step 6, the string on the Rotary Motion Sensor pulley was rewound. The hanging mass
was changed to just enough so that it fell at constant speed after a little starting push was given. This was
likely to be only about 1 gram. The mass was recorded, and it was noted that it was just enough to overcome
friction. In the calculations later on, this mass would be subtracted from the total hanging mass
Results


Discussion

The rotational inertia of a ring and a disk can be experimentally determined by measuring their respective
rotational accelerations when subjected to the same torque. This experiment involves suspending a ring and a
disk of the same radius and thickness over a pulley and measuring the time it takes for them to rotate a certain
distance when subjected to a torque. By using the equation T = Iα, where T is the torque applied, and α is the
angular acceleration, the moment of inertia (I) for each object can be calculated. The moment of inertia is a
measure of an object's resistance to changes in its rotational motion.

In this experiment, a ring and a disk of known mass were used. The mass of the disk was 0.105kg, and the
mass of the ring was 0.101kg. The theoretical moment of inertia of the disk and the ring were 0.000093kgm^2
and 0.0004kgm^2, respectively. The experimental moment of inertia of the ring was 0.103kgm^2, and the
experimental moment of inertia of the disk was 0.061kgm^2. The percent error for the disk was 4.3%, and for
the ring was 1.997%.

Based on the experimental results, it was found that the ring has a greater rotational inertia than the disk. This
is because the experimental value for the moment of inertia of the ring was closer to the theoretical value than
the experimental value for the moment of inertia of the disk. The percent error for the ring was also lower than
the percent error for the disk, indicating that the experimental value for the moment of inertia of the ring was
more accurate than the experimental value for the moment of inertia of the disk.

There could be several reasons for the discrepancy between the theoretical and experimental values.
Experimental errors, inaccurate measurements, or assumptions made in the theoretical calculations could have
contributed to the difference. Additionally, it is possible that the objects used in the experiment were not
perfectly uniform or their shape might have deviated from the ideal shape assumed in the theoretical
calculations. These factors could have led to the difference between the theoretical and experimental values.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the ring and disk lab experiment was able to demonstrate the concept of rotational inertia and
how it is affected by the mass and radius of an object. The results of the experiment showed that the ring had a
greater rotational inertia than the disk, which is consistent with the theoretical understanding of rotational
inertia.
References

1. Resnick, R., & Halliday, D. (2014). Physics, Part 1 (Vol. 2). John Wiley & Sons.
2. Serway, R. A., & Jewett, J. W. (2018). Physics for Scientists and Engineers with
Modern Physics. Cengage Learning.
3.Thornton, S. T., & Marion, J. B. (2014). Classical dynamics of particles and
systems. Cengage Learning.
4. Kleppner, D., & Kolenkow, R. J. (2014). An Introduction to Mechanics. Cambridge
University Press.
5.Young, H. D., & Freedman, R. A. (2016). University Physics with Modern Physics
(14th ed.). Pearson.