LAB 8 – TORQUE & ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS

Objectives:
 Determine the moment of inertia of a solid disk by using Newton’s 2nd law for rotations and the
definition of torque.

What You Turn In Next Week:

 Lab 8 Exercise
 Post-Lab Assignment for Lab 8
Background Reading:
 Walker 5e Chapter 10 & 11.
Equipment provided by the lab:
 Moment of inertia apparatus
 Stopwatch
 Meter stick
 Additional cylindrical masses
 Pulley
 50 g mass hanger
 Digital scale

Background:
Moment of Inertia (I) Units: kg m2
Rotational equivalent of mass

I = ∑i mi r2i
Moment of inertia depends on the axis of
rotation, and the distance of the masses
from the axis.

Kinematic Equations for Rotations

1
θf = θi +ωi Δt+ α(Δt)2
2
ωf = ωi +α(Δt)
ω2f = ω2i +2αΔθ

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LAB 8 – TORQUE & ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS
Vector
Torque () Units: Nm (not J)
Rotational equivalent of force. “effectiveness of force to cause a rotation or a change in the rotation of an
object.”

τ = rFsinϕ magnitude only.

Direction either ccw (+) or cw (-)
Depends on the magnitude of the applied force F, the distance from the point of force application to the
pivot (r), and the angle  between these two vectors.
Newton’s II Law for Rotation
The angular acceleration of the solid disk is equal to the torque exerted on it divided by its moment of
inertia (rotational mass). The angular acceleration is in the same direction as the torque.

τnet = ∑ τi = 𝐼𝛼
If the net torque on the disk is not zero, the object will undergo an angular acceleration.
Determining the Moment of Inertia
The solid disk is placed on the rotating
table. A string is attached to a mass,
which creates a torque on the spool
connected to the disk as it falls a
distance ∆y. This distance Δy is equal
to the arc length that spool turns
through. The only force on the spool
(ignoring friction) is the tension in the
string, which pulls perpendicular to the
outside of the spool (φ = 90o).
Therefore, the net torque on the spool
is:

τnet = rspool T
Use the following kinematic equation
to find the angular acceleration:

1
∆θ =ωi Δt+ α(Δt)2
2
Then use Newton’s 2nd law for rotation to find the moment of inertia of the solid disk.

τnet = Iα
Procedure:
Part A: Warm-Up Questions
Spend 5-10 minutes with your group answering the Warm-up questions for Lab 8. Use the background
section above to help you.

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LAB 8 – TORQUE & ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS
Part B: Perform the experiment
1. Place 150g on a mass hanger and measure the total mass of the combination. Record this in your
notebook.
2. Hang the mass over the pulley and wrap the string around the largest spool until the top of the mass
is just below the pulley. The radius of this spool is 2.5 cm.
3. Measure the distance from the bottom of the hanger to the floor, and record this in your notebook.
4. Release the mass and measure the time it takes the mass to fall to the floor. Record this time in
your notebook.
5. Perform this measurement 9 more times (ten total times), making sure that Δy is as close to the
same as possible for each trial.
6. Find the average falling time and its standard deviation using Excel.
The rest of the lab will be devoted to using the average falling time and other measured
quantities to calculate the moment of inertia of the disk.
Note: please keep three significant figures in all of your calculations!
Part C: Calculate the torque on the disk
1. Use the drop height (Δy) and the average fall time (tavg) to determine the acceleration of the falling
mass.
2. Draw a free body diagram for the falling mass, and use Newton’s 2nd law to determine the tension
in the string.
3. Draw a free body diagram for the disk as viewed from the top.
4. Determine an equation for the net torque on the disk. Keep in mind that the string is attached to
the spool, so you must use that radius (rspool) when calculating the torque due to the string.
5. Use the equation from step #4 to calculate the net torque on the disk. Note: Since the tension
should be the same throughout the string, you can use tension that was calculated in step #2.
Call your instructor over to verify your result.
Part D: Determine the moment of inertia of the solid disk
1. Calculate the angular acceleration of the disk using an angular kinematic equation.

2. Use Newton’s 2nd law for rotation and the definition of torque to calculate the moment inertia of
the solid disc. This value will be labeled Imeasured.
Call your instructor over to verify your result and to get the values for the mass and radius of
the solid disc.
(Note: you didn’t need these to calculate the moment of inertia (Imeasured)…weird)
3. Next, calculate the “theoretical” moment of inertia of the disk (Icalc) using the equation for the
moment of inertial for a solid disk, and the mass and radius of the disk. Do not use the radius of
the spool!
4. Calculate the percent difference between the two values for the moment of inertia (Imeasured and Icalc).

In this lab, we are looking to verify that that the value of the moment of inertia of a solid disk that
was calculated using the mass and radius is in agreement with a value experimentally determined by
measuring the angular acceleration and the torque. In this case, a percent difference of ~10% will
be considered “good” agreement.