Physics Laboratory Report:

Title: Torque and Rotational Inertia Lab Number: 127

Name: Vishal Ravikumar Group ID: Z

Date Of Experiment: 11/20/20 Date Of Report Submission: 11/27/20

Introduction:
Objective:
1. To experimentally determine the rotational inertia of a rotating body by measuring its
angular acceleration and applying the relationship to it.

2. To practice computation of rotational inertias for objects with different shapes (different
mass distributions)

Theatrical Background:

We know that when a force is exerted on a rigid object pivoted about an axis, the object tends to
rotate about that axis. The tendency of a force to rotate an object about some axis is measured by
a quantity called torque τ. We also know that rotational inertia I is a measure of the rigid object's
resistance to change to its rotation about the fixed axis, and it plays much the same role in
rotational dynamics as mass does in linear dynamics. Finally the last thing that we need to know
to effectively perform this lab is that once the mass distribution of an object relative to the
rotation axis is known, the rotational inertia of the object

Experimental Procedure:
Equipment List:
1. Lab Computer with Capstone software installed.

2. 50 Universal Interface, Rotational System

3. Rotational Disk (25.4 cm diameter)

4. Ring (12.7 cm outside diameter),

5. 50 g-Mass hangers

6. 200 g Weight

7. Bubble Level
8. Vernier Caliper

9. Digital scale on the counter.

Experiment Setup:
1. Set up the rotational apparatus as shown in Figure 4(a).

2. Level the rotational base with a bubble level

3. Login into the computer using your UCID and password

4. Connect the USB cable of the 850 Universal interface to a USB port on the computer

5. Connect the AC adapter power cord to an electrical outlet under the lab table

6. Press the power push button on the left front corner of the interface. The green LED
indicator below the power push button should light up.

7. Plug the phone jack connector from the photogate sensor in “Digital inputs port 1 “ on
the 850 Universal interface

8. Open “Lab 127 Torque and Rotational inertia 11A file in physics 111a Lab experiments
folder on the desktop.

Experimental Procedures:

Part 1: Theoretically Determine Rotational inertia of Disk and Ring:

1. Measure the masses of the disk and ring

2. Measure the radius of the disk, the inner and outer radii of the ring

3. Calculate the theoretical value of the rotational inertia for the disk.

Part 2: Experimental Determination of Rotational Inertia of Disk through the center mass and
ring:
A. Determination of the rotational Inertia of disk rotating through its center
1. Remove the rotational disk and measure the diameters of the second pully the top of
the step-up-pully where the thread is wound. Record the radius r in Data Table 2.

2. Place the disk back on the center shat as shown in figure 4a. The side of the disk that has
a circular groove should be up.
3. Hang the mass hanger (50 g) with a 300 g weight to the end of the thread.

4. Wind the thread around the pully by gently turning the disk until the top of the g mass
hanger is close to the 10 spoke pully. Hold the disk stationary
5. Click the record button on the bottom of the computer screen and release the disk. The
computer screen will display the following plot. After two rounds of trip, click stop
button on the bottom of the computer screen.

6. Determine the slope of the linear speed vs time graph. The slope is equal to the linear
acceleration a of the mass hanger. Record this value in Data Table 2.

7. Repeated the above steps two more times. Average the values that you measured.

8. The rotational inertia that you have measured is total rotational inertia not only for the
disk but also for any other rotating parts during rotational motion. Determine the
rotational inertia of the setup pulley and shaft. You can repeat the above steps without
the disk and hanging only 50 g mass hanger. Record all values you have measured in
Data table 2.

9. Determine the rotational inertia of the disk rotating on an axis through its center of
mass and compare this to the experimentally value with a theoretically calculated one

B. Determination of the rotational inertia of both disk and ring:

1. The setup for this experiment is shown in Figure 5. Place the disk back on the center
shaft as shown in Figure 4(a). The side of the disk that has a circular groove should be
up.

2. Place the ring on the top of the disk, seating it in the groove.

3. Follow the steps 3 to 7 in Part II: A. R

4. Determine the rotational inertia of the ring only and compare this experimentally
determined value with theoretically calculated one.

C. Determination of the rotational inertia of disk rotating on an axis through its

diameter:
1. Remove the disk and ring from the shaft. Mount the disk vertically by inserting the shaft
in one of the two “D” shaped holes on the edge of the disk. See Figure 6.

2. Follow the steps 3 to 7 in Part II: A.

3. Determine the rotational inertia of the disk rotating on an axis through tis diameter and
compare this experimentally determined value with a theoretically calculated one.
Results and Tables:
Table 1:
Object Mass[kg] Radius [M] Rotational Inertia:
Disk M= R= Through the center of
mass:

Through Diameters:
Ring M= R1 (Inner):
R2 (Outer):

Table 2:

Table 3:

Calculations:

Discussion and Question:

As you can see from the

Book Questions:
1. When I compare my experimental result to my theoretical results, they are not that
different from each other. I believe that the reason that we can have errors is that we
did not use the exact value that we got we had to round up or down since the decimals
were too long which made it hard to calculate the values.

Conclusion:
Overall, through this lab, we were able to experimentally determine the rotational inertia of a
rotating body by measuring its angular acceleration and applying the relationship to it. We were
also able to practice computation of rotational inertia for objects with different shapes
(different mass distributions). We have learned the necessary skills and formulas through pur
lecture class and lab class, to achieve the tasks above.