Physics 161

Moment of Inertia
Introduction
In this experiment we will study the effect of a constant torque on a
symmetrical body. In Part I you will determine the angular acceleration of a disk
when a constant torque is applied to the disk. From this we will measure its
moment of inertia, which we will compare with a theoretical value. In Part II,
you will observe the relationship between torque, moment of inertia and angular acceleration for
a rotating rod with two masses on either end. You will vary the mass connected (and therefore
the torque applied) to the rod by two pulleys. You will also change the moment of inertia of the
rod system by changing the distance of the masses from the center of mass of the rod.

Reference
Young and Freedman, University Physics, 13th Edition: Chapter 3, section 4;
Chapter 9, sections
1-4

Theory
Moment of inertia is a measure of the distribution of mass in a body and how difficult that body
is to accelerate angularly. For both parts of the experiment, a falling mass will
accelerate a rotating object in the horizontal plane. In Part I, the object will
be a disk. In Part II, you will find the moment of inertia of a rod with two
masses attached to it.
The basic equation for rotational motion is:

(1)

where is angular acceleration in units of rad/s , is applied torque in N m, and finally I is

the moment of inertia or rotational inertia in units of kg m . For a uniform disk pivoted
about the center of mass, the theoretical moment of inertia is
2

I disk

1
MR 2
2

(2)

where M is the mass of the disk and R is the radius of the disk. In Part I we
measure the angular acceleration, , and use this to calculate moment of inertia,
I, which we will compare with the theoretical value of I.

In Part II the moment of inertia is the sum of the moments of inertia of the two masses and the
rod. For the masses that slip onto the rod, we will assume point masses. Thus, the moment of
inertia for one of the two masses is:

I mass mr 2

(3)

where r is the distance of the center of mass from the axis of rotation located at the center of the
rod. Because the masses can be moved along the rod, r will be adjusted to change their moment
of inertia. The moment of the inertia of the rod with mass M and a length L is:
2

1 M
I rod 12
rod L

(4)

The moment of inertia for a rod with length L and two masses on each end at a distance r is
simply the sum of the components as defined by Equations 3 and 4:
2

1 M
I 2mr 12
rod L

(5)

The first term in equation (3) is multiplied by two because there are two point masses. Given the
moment of inertia of the entire system, I, and the torque, , applied by the mass M hanging from
the pulley, angular acceleration, can be found. For translational motion, Fnet = ma , while for
rotational motion we have the analogous equation

net I

(6)

Torque ( ) is a rotational force that causes rotation with an angular acceleration, , in an

object with a moment of inertia, I. The rotating object will be attached to a pulley placed at the
center of the rotary motion sensor which has a string wrapped around it. The string has a mass
tied to one end (the mass will vary) and is laid over an additional pulley which allows the falling
motion of the mass to be converted to a torque on the rotary motion sensor. For the purposes of
this lab, the applied torque will be due to a mass accelerated by gravity acting on the pulley of
the rotary motion sensor. You might expect the torque to be given by the weight of the hanging
mhang gR pulley
mass (mhangg) times the moment arm (Rpulley):
. However, the torque actually
arises from the tension in the string, not the weight of the hanging mass. The analysis using
Newtons laws (see Appendix) shows that the torque is actually slightly less than this:
2
mhang gR pulley mhang R pulley

(8)

where mhang is the mass hanging on the pulley. The experimental moment of inertia can be found
using the following equation:

I experiment /

(9)

In Part II, by adjusting the masses on the rod, we can observe how an increased moment of
inertia (where either the mass is distributed farther from the center of mass or the total mass is
increased) will result in a decreased angular acceleration for the same torque. It is the same type
of relationship as the one you observed for Newton's Second Law.

Procedure
Part I: Moment of Inertia for a Disk
The experiment uses a mass hanging on a string over a pulley to generate a constant torque on
the system resulting in a constant angular acceleration of the system.
1. Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 9.1, making sure to connect the rotary motion sensor
to the 850 Universal Interface. Connect a disk to the rotary motion sensor.

Figure 9.1

2. Make sure that the pulley is set up to give positive values for angular position. This means that
the rotary motion sensor will turn in a counterclockwise direction as the mass on the pulley
drops. (The motion sensor may have an indication of which direction is positive taped to it.)
3. Adjust the measurement rate to 10 Hz on the Rotary Motion Sensor.
4. Choose angular velocity, , in radians/s under the y-axis of the graph.
5. Measure and record the radius of the rotary motion sensor pulley around which the string is
wound, and the radius of the disk. Hang a mass of 50 grams from the pulley, press Record, and
release it.

6. Press Stop just before the hanging mass reaches the ground.
7. Using a linear trend line fit, determine the angular acceleration and the uncertainty in .
8. Make the following table and find the experimental moment of inertia for the disk (using your
torque and angular acceleration results) and compare it to its theoretical value (using equation
(2)).
Rdisk(m)

Rpulley(m)

mhang(kg)

mdisk(kg)

I experiment

I theory

Part II: Moment of Inertia of a Rod with Two Masses Attached

The experiment uses a mass hanging on a string over a pulley to generate a constant torque on
the system resulting in a constant angular acceleration of the system.
1. Weigh the rod and the point masses and record these masses.
2. Set up the apparatus as shown in Figure 9.2, making sure to connect the rotary motion sensor
to the interface box.

Figure 9.2

3. Make sure that the pulley is set up to give positive values for angular position. This means that
the rotary motion sensor will turn in a counterclockwise direction as the mass on the pulley
drops. (The motion sensor may have an indication of which direction is positive taped to it.)
4. Adjust the measurement rate to 10 Hz on the Rotary Motion Sensor.
4

5. Measure angular position, , in radians, angular velocity, , in radians/s and angular

acceleration, , in radians/s. Create graphs of these quantities vs. time.
6. Adjust the masses so they are as far from the axis as possible without falling off. Measure and
record this distance (r0). Hang a mass of 50 grams from the pulley, press Record, and release it.
7. Press Stop just before the hanging mass reaches the table. You will repeat this for four trials
with different positions for the masses and create a table with the following format:
Run

r(m)

Rpulley(m)

Mhang(kg)

r r0

0.05

r .8r0

0.05

r 0.7 r0

0.05

r0

0.05

I masses 2mr 2

I theory 2mr 2 I rod

I experiment /

For the case r 0 , remove the masses completely from the rod.
IMPORTANT: An important distinction: r is the distance between the center of the point mass
and the axis of rotation (the center of the rod), while Rpulley is the radius of the pulley on the rotary
motion sensor around which the string is wrapped.

For Your Lab Report:

mhang gR pulley mhang R pulley
Include a sample calculation of the torques
and moments of
inertia Itheoretical and Iexperimental for Part I. Estimate the uncertainty of the measurements for the
radius of the disk (Rdisk), and the mass. Use the uncertainty in angular acceleration as recorded by
Capstone. Assume 2% uncertainty for g. Use these values to propagate your uncertainty to find
uncertainties for Itheoretical and Iexperimental for Part I. (You can ignore the second term in eq. (8) when
propagating uncertainty for the torque.) Do Itheoretical and Iexperimental agree within their uncertainties?
2

For Part II, compare Itheoretical and Iexperimental without uncertainty calculations. Find the %
difference for each case and discuss possible sources of systematic error. Are your plots of
angular acceleration consistent with the assumption that angular acceleration is constant?

Appendix
The calculation of the torque applied to the rotary motion sensor is as follows:
The rotary motion sensor has a radius, Rpulley, which is the distance from the axis of rotation at
which the force, T, acts. T is the tension in the string attached to the pulley and is due in part to
the weight on the string, Mg, where M is the mass of the hanging mass and g is the acceleration
due to gravity. Figure 9.3 below shows a rough sketch of the set up.

Figure 9.3

The application of Newton's Second Law to the hanging mass results:

Fy mhanga
Fy mhang g T mhang a

The downward direction is taken to be positive. We can substitute for the linear acceleration, a:
a R pulley

Where and Rpulley are the angular acceleration and the radius of the rotary motion sensor,
respectively. Continuing to solve the equation gives us:
mhang g T mhang R pulley
T mhang g mhang R pulley
T is the tension in the string. It is a force, not a torque. To find the torque acting on the pulley,
we must multiply by the distance from the axis of rotation at which the force acts:

 R pulleyT
mhang gR pulley mhang R pulley2
m
For the set up of this experiment, take the following example where hang = 0.06 kg,
R pulley 0.025
m and 2.58 rad/sec. Substituting these values results in:
mhang gR pulley 14.7 10 3 Nm
mhang R pulley 0.0969 10 3 Nm
2

mhang gR pulley mhang R pulley

2

From this example, we see that

mhang gR pulley
.

so we can approximate