Physics I Laboratory Faculty of Science, Ontario Tech University
Lab Report PhyI-05: Rotational Inertia
Student’s name______Eric Pilecki_________ CRN_72275___ Date _3/7/2023________
Activity #1: Rotational inertia of Disk, Ring, and Rod
Theoretical Rotational Inertia
Table 3
Disk Ring Rod
Radius Mass Id, kg·m 2
Radius Radius Mass Ir, kg·m 2
Lengt Mass Irod,
rd, m md, kg rri, m rro, m mr, kg h Lrod, mrod, kg kg·m2
m
0.09490 0.1226 5.520x10-4 0.02620 0.03815 0.4706 5.039x10-4 0.382 0.02084 2.53x10-4
m kg kg·m2 m m kg kg·m2 m kg kg·m2
Measured Rotational Inertia
rp ± Δrp = ___0.0048 m___±__0.00003_ m – radius of the smallest part of the step-pulley.
mho ± Δmho = ___0.0052 kg___±___0.00005__ kg – mass of the hanger for the first measurement.
mh ± Δmh = ____0.0152 kg___±__0.00005_ kg – total mass of the hanger plus additional 10g mass.
Table 4
Rotational Apparatus (Run 1) Disk + Rotational Apparatus (Run 2) Disk
at ± Δat, m/s2 Is ± ΔIs, kg·m2 at ± Δat, m/s2 Ids ± ΔIds, kg·m2 Id= Ids – Is, kg·m2
0.388 m/s2 ± 2.9x10-6 kg·m2 ± 0.0677 m/s2 ± 5.0x10-5 kg·m2 ± 4.7x10-5 kg·m2
6.5x10-4 m/s2 4.6x10-8 kg·m2 2.2x10-4 m/s2 6.6x10-7 kg·m2
Disk+Ring+Rotational Apparatus Ring Rod + Rotational Apparatus Rod
(Run 3) (Run 4)
at, m/s2 Irds, kg·m2 Ir= Irds – Ids, kg·m2 at, m/s2 Irs, kg·m2 Irod= Irs – Is, kg·m2
0.0174 m/s2 2.0x10-4 kg·m2 1.5x10-4 kg·m2 0.00868 4.0x10-4 3.9x10-4 kg·m2
m/s2 kg·m2
Activity #2: Rotational inertia of Point Mass, Parallel-Axis Theorem
Theoretical Rotational Inertia
M = M1 + M2 = ___0.152______ kg
Table 5
R1, m I1 = MR12, kg·m2 R2, m I2 = MR22, kg·m2 d, m I3 = I2 + Md2, kg·m2
Lab Report PhyI-05: Rotational Inertia
Physics I Laboratory Faculty of Science, Ontario Tech University
0.17 m 4.4x10-3 kg·m2 0.09 m 1.2x10-3 kg·m2 0.020 m 1.3x10-3 kg·m2
Measured Rotational Inertia
rp = ___0.0048___ m mh = 0.0152 _ kg (take values from Table 4) Table 6
Two point masses at radius R1 (Run 5) Two point masses at radius R2 (Run 6)
at, m/s2 Ir1, kg·m2 I1, kg·m2 at, m/s2 Ir2, kg·m2 I2, kg·m2
7.61x10-4 m/s2 4.5x10-3 kg·m2 4.1x10-3 kg·m2 0.00194 m/s2 1.8x10-3 kg·m2 1.4x10-3 kg·m2
Two point masses at distance 2R2 with displaced rotational axis by 0.020 m (Run 7)
at, m/s2 Ir3, kg·m2 I3, kg·m2
0.00234 m/s2 1.5x10-3 kg·m2 1.1x10-3 kg·m2
Conclusion:
The purpose of this lab was to understand the concept of rotational inertia and experimentally verify
that the rotational inertia values obtained from the experiment match the theoretical counterparts. The
method used involved the application of a known torque and measuring the resulting angular velocity.
A step pulley with a string was mounted onto a rotary motion sensor where the string was fed through
a super pulley with a hanging mass m attached. Rotational inertia values were then calculated from the
resulting rotation of the step pulley. Among the theoretical rotational inertia values, the value
belonging to the disk was the largest due to the fact its mass was the greatest. The experimental and
theoretical values for the three objects are similar, and the differences can be explained by instrumental
uncertainties from the measuring devices and statistical uncertainties due to the friction between the
string and the pulleys. The experimental uncertainty of the experimental apparatus’ rotational inertia
value is 4.6x10-8 kg·m2 while the experimental uncertainty of the disk and apparatus’ rotational inertia
value is 6.6x10-7 kg·m 2. Changing the mass positions on the rod in Activity 2 was done to show that the
rotational inertia value decreases as R becomes smaller. With an R value of R1, the rotational inertia
value was largest. Using a value of R2 and 2R2 with a displaced rotational axis by 0.020 m produced
values of 1.4x10-3 kg·m2 and 1.1x10-3 kg·m2 respectively. The theoretical and experimental rotational
inertia values for different mass positions are similar and again, the differences can be explained by
instrumental and statistical uncertainties. Overall, the purpose of this lab was achieved as the
experimental rotational inertia values closely matched the theoretical counterparts. The things I learned
from this experiment were how to calculate rotational inertia values and how a change in R affects
these values.
Lab Report PhyI-05: Rotational Inertia 2
