Extra Integration Problems

The moment of inertia of a point mass 𝑚 is 𝑚𝑘 2 , where 𝑘 is the perpendicular

distance of the mass from the axis of rotation. This can be generalised to find
the moment of inertia of an arbitrary rigid body. If the body has mass 𝑀 , then
we can define the moment of inertia as
∫
𝐼 = 𝑘(r)2 𝑑𝑚, (1)
𝑀

where the integration is carried out over each differential element of mass located
at r, and 𝑘(⋅) is the distance of each mass element from the axis of rotation. If
we assume that the body has some position-dependent density 𝛾(r), then the
mass element can be rewritten

𝑑𝑚 = 𝛾(r) 𝑑𝑉. (2)

The integral can then be rewritten as a volume integral over the body
∫
𝐼 = 𝛾(r)𝑘(r)2 𝑑𝑉. (3)
𝑉

Given a uniform-density sphere of mass 𝑀 and radius 𝑅, rotating about an axis

through its centre
1. Derive an expression for the density of the sphere 𝛾
2. Assuming the sphere rotates about the 𝑧 axis, find an expression for 𝑘(r)
in spherical polar coordinates
3. By evaluating up the integral (3) in spherical polar coordinates, show that
the sphere has a moment of inertia about its centre of mass of 52 𝑀 𝑅2
Assuming now that we have a thin spherical shell with radius 𝑅, having uniform
density
1. Derive an expression for the area density of the sphere 𝜆 (i.e. the mass
per unit surface area of the shell). The differential element of mass can
now be written
𝑑𝑚 = 𝜆 𝑑𝐴 (4)

2. By solving an appropriate surface integral, show that the spherical shell

has a moment of inertia about its centre of mass of 23 𝑀 𝑅2