Analysis

 Sources of Error
o The orientation of the apparatus used is a possible source of error in the experiment. An
uneven surface will give an inaccurate data. The apparatus was leveled based on human
judgement which may not be entirely accurate.
o Another possible source of error is the limitation of the timer used. Several runs were done
per trial to determine the acceleration of the disk, all of which gave of slightly different
results. These differences cause uncertainty in calculations.

 Concepts or Principles Used

o The moment of inertia was the main concept observed all throughout the experiment. The
difference between the moments of inertia of a disk about an axis through its center and
through its diameter was determined.
o The concept of free body diagrams (FBD) was used in order to visualize the different forces
acting on a body. This was also used in order to find the summation of all forces on both y
and x axes.

 In Part A and Part B of the experiment, measured quantities such as the mass of the disk (MDISK),
friction mass, the radius of the disk (RDISK), radius of the Shaft (r), mass of the pan and the additional
weight put onto it (m), and the acceleration of the disk (a) were determined. These values were
used to compute the moment of inertia of the disk (IA), the experimental moment of inertia (IE)
and the percent difference.
 It was found that the determination of moment of inertia of a disk rotated about the center lead to
a higher moment of inertia as compared to rotating the disk on its diameter. This is because the
particles of the disk are more spread out when it is rotated on the center as compared to when it is
rotated upright on its diameter.

Conclusion
The objectives of the experiment were to determine the moment of inertia of a disk about an axis
through its center perpendicular to its plane, and to determine the moment of inertia of a disk about an axis
through its diameter. The experiment consisted of two parts: Part A and Part B. The first part, Part A,
focused on the determination of moment of inertia of disk rotated about the center, while the second part,
Part B, on the latter.
 The moment of inertia of an object is a calculated measure for a rigid body that is undergoing
rotational motion around a fixed axis. It measures how difficult it would be to change an object's current
rotational speed. Moment of inertia, however, is always specified with respect to that axis and is defined as
the sum of the products obtained by multiplying the mass of each particle of matter in a given body by the
square of its distance from the axis (equation 1):

𝐼 = ∑ 𝑀𝑅 2 (1)

Where I is the moment of inertia, M is the mass of the body, and R is the radius of rotation. The moment
of inertia is directly proportional to the mass and the radius of rotation. An increase in any of the two values,
would cause for the moment of inertia to also increase. In an event where the mass and the radius are the
same, it is expected for the object whose mass is further from the axis of rotation to have a higher moment
of inertia which explains why the same disk has a lower moment of inertia when it is rotated along its
diameter as compared to its center.
After having done the experiment, I learned how the distribution of mass of the same disk affects
the moment of inertia significantly. This knowledge could possibly be applied to future practical situations
that require rotation of a body. Moreover, I realized the importance of doing multiple runs per one recorded
trial to make sure that the data gathered would be reproducible regardless if it is accurate. Furthermore, this
experiment made me think how the moment of inertia could be applied to engineering or to the fields of my
study.
As a Chemical Engineering and Chemistry student, I have already come across the concept of the
moment of inertia being applied to the field of Chemistry. The moment of inertia is defined for a molecule
as it would be for any other solid: one can consider the nuclei as points with mass, ignoring the negligible
mass of the electrons, one can then calculate either the scalar moment of inertia or the tensor of the same
name. The moment of inertia of a molecule is involved in the quantification of its rotational movements. It
plays a big role in Rotational Spectroscopy which is where the rotation of a molecule is quantized, and the
value that the angular momentum can take are related to the moment of inertia of the molecule. Another
application is in Rotational Entropy. The rotational entropy of a molecule is linked through statistical
mechanics to its inertia tensor.