SYSTEM OF PARTICLES AND

ROTATIONAL MOTION
SYSTEM OF PARTICLES

 A system is a collection of a very large number of particles which mutually interact

with each other. For example a body of finite size.

CENTRE OF MASS
 A centre of mass of a body is a point where the whole mass of the body is supposed
to be concentrated for describing it’s

 translatory motion.

 Centre of mass of n-Particle system

Consider a system of n particles having masses m1,m2,……., mn and position
vectors ⃗⃗⃗
𝑟1 + ⃗⃗⃗
𝑟2 + ⋯ + 𝑟⃗⃗⃗𝑛 relative to the origin O.
Then, position of centre of mass⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑅𝑐𝑚 of the system is given by

𝑚 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑟 +𝑚 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑟 +⋯+𝑚𝑛 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝑟𝑛
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
R CM = 1 1 2 2
𝑚1 +𝑚2 +⋯+𝑚𝑛

 Cartesian coordinates of centre of mass

∑𝒎𝒙
 xCM =
∑𝑴

∑𝒎𝒚
 yCM =
∑𝑴

∑𝒎𝒛
 zCM =
∑𝑴

 In case of a body with continuous mss distribution, we can replace the

summation as:

∑ mx → ∫xdm , ∑ my → ∫ydm , ∑ mz → ∫zdm

 The centre of mass after removal of a part of the body
If a portion of a body is taken out, the remaining portion may be considered as,
{Original mass (M)} + { - mass of removed part(m)}
The formula for COM then changes to:
 𝐌𝐱−𝐦𝐱 ′ 𝐌𝛄−𝐦𝐲 ′
XCM = , YCM = {x’ and y’ are coordinates of COM of the removed part}
𝐌−𝐦 𝐌−𝐦

 Shift in the position of centre of mass

𝐦𝟏 𝚫𝐱 𝟏 +𝐦𝟐 𝚫𝐱 𝟐 +⋯ 𝐦𝟏 𝚫𝐲𝟏 +𝐦𝟐 𝚫𝐲𝟐 +⋯
∆𝐱 = and 𝚫𝐲 =
𝐦𝟏 +𝐦𝟐 +⋯ 𝐦𝟏 +𝐦𝟐 +⋯

where ∆𝑥 and∆𝑦 are the changes in coordinates of the COM of the system and
∆x1, ∆x2 ,… and ∆y1,∆y2,… are the changes in the position of the COM of the
individual masses.

 Velocity of COM of a system is given by:

𝐦𝟏 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐯𝟏 +𝐦𝟐 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐯𝟐 +𝐦𝐧 ⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐯𝐧
⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐯𝐂𝐌 =
𝐦𝟏 +𝐦𝟐 +𝐦𝐧
 Acceleration of COM of a system is given by:
⃗⃗⃗⃗
𝐅𝟏 +𝐅⃗⃗⃗⃗𝟐 +𝐅
⃗⃗⃗⃗𝐧 ⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗⃗
∑𝐅 𝐞𝐱 𝐭
𝐚𝐂𝐌 = =
𝐌 𝐌

NOTE: In absence of any net external force, the COM of a system of particles is
either at rest or moves with constant velocity.

 Centre of mass of some regular bodies

Sl Shape of the body Position of

No. centre of mass
1 Long thin rod Middle of the rod

2 Thin circular ring Geometrical centre

3 Rectangular lamina Point of

intersection of
diagonals
4 Triangular lamina Point of
intersection of
medians
5 Semi-circular ring 𝟐𝑹
At a height of
𝝅
from its base
6 Thin uniform hemispherical 𝑹
shell Above from its
𝟐
base
7 Right circular cone At a height of 𝒉/𝟒
from its base
ROTATIONAL MOTION OF RIGID BODIES

A rigid body is said to undergo rotation about an axis If there exists a straight line such
that the motion of any particle of the rigid body takes place on an arc of a circle whose
centre lies on this straight line.

 Equations of Rotational Motion:

For a body in rotational motion under constant angular acceleration, the
equations of motion can be written as
1. ꞷ = ꞷ o + αt
1
2. θ = ꞷ ot + αt 2
2
3. ꞷ 2 - ꞷ o2 = 2αt , where θ is angular displacement in rad, ꞷ o and ꞷ are the
initial and final angular velocity in rads-1,and α is angular acceleration in rads-2

ⅆθ ⅆω ⅆ2 θ
ω= , α= =
ⅆt ⅆt ⅆt2

 Moment of Inertia:
The moment of inertia of a rigid body about a fixed axis is defined as the sum of the
products of the masses of the particles constituting the body and the squares of their
respective distances from their axis of rotation.
Mathematically,
𝒏
𝐼= ∑ 𝒊=𝟏
𝒎𝒊 𝒓𝟐𝒍̇

 Radius of Gyration:
If the moment of inertia (I) of a body of mass m about an axis be written in form: I=mk2,
then the quantity k, so defined is known as the radius of gyration of the body.It
represents the radial distance from the given axis of rotation where the entire mass of
the body can be assumed to concentrated so that its rotational inertia remains
unchanged.

THEOREMS
x-a ON MOMENT OF INERTIA
 The Perpendicular Axes Theorem:
The moment of inertia of a plane lamina about an axis perpendicular to the plane is
equal to the sum of the moments of inertia of the lamina about any two mutually
perpendicular axes in its own plane and intersecting each other at the point where the
perpendicular axis passes through the lamina.

Moment of inertia of the particle about x-axis = my2

Moment of inertia of whole lamina about X-axis is, Ix = ∑my2
About Y-axis, Iy = ∑mx2
  Moment inertia of whole lamina about Z-axis is
Iz = ∑mr2 =∑ m(y2+x2)
= ∑ my2 + ∑ mx2
IZ = IY + IX
This proves the theorem of perpendicular axes.

 The Parallel Axes Theorem:

The moment of inertia of a body about any axis is equal to its moment of inertia about a
parallel axis through its centre of mass plus the product of the mass of the body and the
square of the perpendicular distance between the two parallel axes.

IP = ICM + md2

MOMENT OF INERTIA OF SOME COMMON BODIES

MOMENT OF INERTIA OF A RING

 about an axis through its centre and perpendicular to its plane:

I = MR2
 about any diameter:
𝟏
ID = MR2
𝟐
 about a tangent in its plane:
𝟑
IT = MR2
𝟐
 about a tangent perpendicular to its plane:
IT = 2MR2

MOMENT OF INERTIA OF A UNIFORM CIRCULAR DISC

 about an axis through its centre and perpendicular to its plane:

𝟏
I = MR2
𝟐
 about any diameter:
𝟏
ID = MR2
𝟒
 about tangent in its plane:
𝟓
IT = MR2
𝟒
 about a tangent perpendicular to its plane:
𝟑
IT’ = MR2
𝟐

MOMENT OF INERTIA OF A THIN UNIFORM ROD

𝟏
 about a perpendicular axis through its centre : I = ML2
𝟏𝟐
 𝟏
 about a perpendicular axis through its end: I = ML2
𝟑
 about an axis passing through one end and
𝟏
making an angle θ with the rod: I = ML2𝐬𝐢𝐧𝟐 𝛉
𝟑

MOMENT OF INERTIA OF A RECTANGULAR LAMINA

 about a line perpendicular to its plane passing through intersection of

𝐌(𝐚𝟐 +𝐛𝟐 )
diagonals (having side lengths ‘a’ and ‘b’): I =
𝟏𝟐

MOMENT OF INERTIA OF SPHERE

𝟐
 spherical shell about diameter: I = MR2
𝟑
𝟐
 uniform solid sphere: I = MR2
𝟓
𝟓 𝟓
𝟐 (𝐫𝟐 −𝐫𝟏)
 hollow sphere with inner and outer radii r1 and r2: I = M 𝟑 𝟑
𝟓 (𝐫𝟐 −𝐫𝟏 )

TORQUE (MOMENT OF A FORCE)

Torque or moment of force is turning action of the force about a given point.

⃗ of a force 𝐅 about a given origin is defined as the vector product

The torque vector 𝛕

⃗𝛕 = 𝐫 × 𝐅 , where 𝐫 is the position vector of point of application of force

relative to the given origin.

|𝛕
⃗ | = 𝐫𝐅 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝛉
 Relation between torque and moment of inertia: 𝛕 = 𝐈𝛂
 Relation between torque and angular momentum: L = Iꞷ

Note: When net torque acting on a rigid body due to external forces is zero
then total angular momentum of the body is conserved.

ANGULAR IMPULSE
Angular impulse of a torque in a given time is equal to the change in angular momentum
during that time. If angular momentum of a body is changed by a torque 𝛕 ⃗ , then
𝐭
𝐉 = ∫𝐭 𝟐 𝛕
⃗ ⅆ𝐭 ( where J is angular impulse).
𝟏
  Kinetic energy of a rigid body in a fixed axis rotation:
𝟏
K = Iꞷ2
𝟐
 Work done by a torque: W = 𝛕𝛉 (where 𝛉 is angular displacement)
 Power: P = 𝛕𝛚

ROLLING MOTION

Rolling motion can be regarded as the combination of pure rotation and pure
translation. The wheels of all the vehicles running on a road have rolling motion.
A vtop

At the top point A of the disc, the linear velocity Rꞷ due to ꞷ

rotational motion and the translational velocity vcm in the . vcm

same direction.

Therefore, vtop = Rꞷ + vcm

 Rolling motion of a rigid body downward along a rough inclined plane:

𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝛉
Acceleration of the body, a = 𝟏+𝐈 {θ is angle of inclination}
𝐂𝐌
𝐌𝐑𝟐
𝐦𝐠 𝐬𝐢𝐧 𝛉
Force of friction, fs = {ICM is moment of inertia about COM}
𝐦𝐑𝟐
𝟏+ 𝐈
𝐂𝐌

𝐭𝐚𝐧 𝜽
 To start pure rolling, μs ≥
𝟏+𝒎𝑹𝟐
𝑰𝑪𝑴