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Laboratory VII
Title
Moments of Inertia about Different Axes
December 3rd, 2009
Performed by: Mason Trang, David Williams, Joe Beaudoin, Beatrice McLeester
TA Name: Yan Yin
We used a lab system that included a disk mounted on a low-friction stand with a rotating spool
and shaft. The spool was strung over a pulley to a mass hanging over the table. When the mass
was released, the disk would spin at with a constant acceleration. The disk was able to spin
about two different axes to represent the coin. It could spin about its central axis or about its
diameter. The problem of this lab was to determine whether the moment of inertia changes as
the axes are changes.
Prediction
We predicted that the moments of inertia for different axes would be different. To compare the
two total inertias, we must gather information about the acceleration, radii, and masses involved.
To calculate the total inertia of the disk-spool-shaft system (ITotal) we can form a more simplified
equation. The equation for ITotal can be found by the following:
Torque Equations:
= Iα or τ = Fr, since F = T, =Tr
So, Iα = Tr or I=
Velocity
Acceleration (a1)
Velocity
Acceleration (a2)
Given our equation for ITotal, we can calculate moments of inertia for each varied axis to give us
experimental values:
ITotal1 kg m2
kg m2
ITotal2 kg m2
We can calculate expected values for ITotal by adding the moments of inertia of each component of
the rotating system. ITotal is given by the following:
The exception is the moment of inertia for the disk with the axis through the diameter.
Its moment of inertia can be found by:
Ispool = 0kg m2
Ishaft = (.2225kg)(.0065m)2
Ishaft =4.7003125x10-6kg m2
=.0091895kg m2
=.0045971kg m2
We can compare the experimental and calculated values for the total moment of inertia of each
system in the following table:
We found percent error by using measured(experimental) and calculated(expected) values for the
moment of inertia. Due to the fact that we had two sets of numbers, I calculated percent error for
both values of moment of inertia. It was important to do this because we needed to see
experimental error for each of the numbers we were testing for.
The uncertainty in this experiment may have been caused by human error in measuring, but it
was definitely not the primary source. The error may have been caused by friction in the system.
Friction may have played a role within the pulley system or the rotating stand. The spool was
considered to have negligible mass, so it may have also affected our values. Although there was
a slight margin of error, our experimental values remained closed to the expected or calculated
values.
Conclusions
After doing this experiment, we proved our prediction to be correct. The values produced by the
experiment show that the moment of inertia changes as the axis of rotation is changed. We
found margin of error in our experiment, but both our expected and experimental values confirm
that the moment of inertia changes.
Given the results of this experiment, we can see that the moment of inertia changes as the
rotational axis is changed. As we saw in our calculated values, the axis changes the equation
needed to calculate moment of inertia. This simple fact can help us easily conclude that
rotational axis is a factor in total moment of inertia of a system. By doing this experiment, we
can also conclude that spinning a coin on a different rotational axis will yield a different moment
of inertia.
References
No references were used for this report.