MC-9: Angular Acceleration of a Flywheel

Introduction

Allow the computer to gather data for about 3045 seconds

In this lab, we will examining the angular motion of

a flywheel when torque is applied to it. There are If you plot angular velocity, you should see it steadily
a few concepts that we will be looking at: torque, decline. Take the slope of this line to measure the
angular acceleration . The moment of inertia of
rotational kinetic energy, and moment of inertia.
a disk rotation in the horizontal orientation (like a
wheel) is
1
I = MR2
2
Setup
To find the torque produced by friction, use
The experimental apparatus includes a large grey
= I
disk, string, a mass hanger with masses, a stand with
an axle, a multi-leveled spool attached to the axle, Calculate this torque
and a photogate which is positioned over the slots in
the spool. The photogate sends a light beam through
the slots in the spool, and can then measure the an- Part 2
gular velocity of the spool as it rotates.
Please measure the mass M of the large disk and its From part 1, you should have seen that the torque
radius R.
produced by friction is quite small. Now, lets see
how much work friction does on the system.
In the DataStudio program, create a new experiment.
Add the Smart Pulley sensor to channel A. Please
Attach a piece of string to the spool on the axle
set the sensor to record Angular Velocity (rad/s) and
(use the widest part of the spool).
Angular Position (rad).
Run the string over the pulley at the edge of the
table

Part 1

Attach the other end of the string to the mass

hangar

We will first measure the effects of friction on the

spinning disk.

Add mass to the hangar (a combined mass of

m = .2 kg works well)
measure the radius r of the spool

Place the large grey disk on the axle (oriented

horizontally)

As the mass hangs on the string, it will produce

torque at the spool, causing the axle and disk to spin.

Spin the disk, and click Start

1

The spool will unwind, and the mass hangar will de- Where a is the acceleration of the mass hangar. Since
scend. We can calculate how much work the masses we know that
did by calculating its change in potential energy.
a = r
we can solve for I,
Wind up the spool, press Start, then release it.
I = rm

Produce and vs. time plots

g

(1)

Measure i and i at the same starting time, and

When the disk is in its horizontal position, we expect
f and f at the same ending time.
the moment of inertia to be
1
(2)
I = MR2
To find the change in potential energy, we need to
2
know how far the mass descended. Since we know
and the radius of the spool, we find that h = r . However, if we orient the disk vertically (like a spinning coin), the moment of inertia changes to
This gives
1
I = MR2
4

PE = mgh = mgr
Now, find the change in rotational kinetic energy of
the disk

(3)

Do two runs: one with the disk horizontal (spinning wheel), and one vertical (spinning coin)

1
1
KE = I( 2f i2 ) = MR2 ( 2f i2 )
2
4

Using the vs. time plot, find the slope

If energy were conserved, then KE and PE should

be identical. But because friction did some work, we
expect KE to be slightly less than PE.

Using Equ. 1, calculate I in each case. This is

your measured I.
Compare your measured I to the expected using
equations 2 and 3

Find PE and KE, and compare the values. They

should be very close in value

Compare your measured values of I to the expected

for each orientation. They should match.

Part 3
We will now verify experimentally that the formulas
for moments of inertia actually work. First, we know
that the large grey disk will accelerate with some angular velocity according to the torque applied to it.
= I
This torque is caused by the tension in the string acting at the spool
= FT r
The force of tension in the string can be found to be
FT = mg ma
2