NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF

TECHNOLOGY
ISLAMABAD
PHYSICS OUT LAB REPORT
APPLIED PHYSICS LAB
For
First Semester
(B.Sc Mechanical Engineering)

EXPERIMENT NO:5
EXPERIMENT TITLE
Rotational Inertia of Ring, Disk, and Dumbbell

Submitted to: SIR MUZAHIR ALI BALOCH

NUTECH School of Applied Sciences & Humanities
(NUSASH)
Lab Supervisor: Sir Sohail
Submitted by: Hafiz Muhammad Bin Zubair
Department: Mechanical Engineering
NUTECH Registration No/Id: F21602034
COURSE: PHY1106 Applied Physics Lab
DATE OF EXPERIMENT: 27/12/2021
 EXPERIMENT NO:5
Rotational Inertia of Ring, Disk, and Dumbbell
 OBJECTIVE:
 To measure the rotational inertia of a ring and a disk.
 To verify the experimental and calculated values.
 SCOPE:
A person performing a Somersault is an example of rotational motion. When we
open a cap of any soda bottle, it jumps up in the air because of pressure released and is
an example of rotational motion. A fan moving in the house, table fan, hand blender's
blades motion are all examples of rotational motion.
 THEORETICAL EXPLANATION:
Rotational inertia is a property of any object which can be rotated. It is a scalar value that
tells us how difficult it is to change the rotational velocity of the object around a
given rotational axis.

The rotational inertia of the ring is

1
I = M ( R21+ R 22 )
2
Where R1 is the internal radius and R2 is an external radius. M is a mass of ring.
The rotational inertia of the disk is
1
I = M R2
2
where M is the mass of the disk and R is the radius of the disk.
We can find rotational inertia experimentally through
τ rF rmg
I= I= I=
α α α
Where T is torque and α is angular acceleration. r will be the radius of the pulley and force will
be the weight that causes the pulley to rotate.
EXPLANATION OF PROCEDURE:
In this experiment, we will observe the rotational inertia of a ring and disk.

 APPARATUS:
1) Disk
2) Ring
3) Rod and point masses
 4) Vernier Caliper
5) Mass balance
6) Mini-Rotational Inertia Accessory
7) Rotary Motion Sensor
8) PASCO Capstone Software
9) 850 Universal Interface
10) Mass Set
11) Large Rod Stand
12) 90 cm Long Steel Rod

 PROCEDURE:
a) First of all, take a ring and disk and weigh their mass on mass balance.
b) Then set up the apparatus as shown in the figure:

c) Open the experiment in the PASCO CAPSTONE SOFTWARE by clicking the

yellow folder on the top of the PC.
d) First take rotational inertia of pulley only.
e) Rotate the knob present beneath the rotatory motion sensor until the thread roll
over the pulley.
 f) Press the record button in the software and release the pulley at the same time and
stop when the pulley is about to reach the ground.
g) Notice the graph in the software, if you find it a straight line then rename it in the
data summary.
h) Select the yellow pen icon on the top of the graph and highlight the straight-line
portion of the graph and save it.
i) If not then do it again.
j) Rotate the knob in the opposite direction and notice the graph.
k) Now find the rotational inertia of disk + pulley.
l) For that, add a 20gram mass in the pulley and rotate the knob and do it the same
as we did for the pulley.
m) Then find the rotational inertia of ring + disk + pulley.
n) Then remove the ring and disk.
o) Add rod on it and find the rotational inertia of rod + pulley as we find for disk and
ring.
p) Then add point masses on it and find rotational inertia of rod + point masses +
pulley.
q) Save the experiment
 Observation and calculations:

The rotational inertia of the ring is

1
I = M ( R21+ R 22 )
2
The rotational inertia of the disk is
1
I = M R2
2
We can find rotational inertia experimentally through
τ rF rmg
I= I= I=
α α α
Where T is torque and α is angular acceleration. r will be the radius of the pulley and m will
be the mass we put on the pulley.

 FOR DISK:

 THEORETICAL VALUE OF DISK:

1 1
I= M R2 = (0.1055)(1.920 ×10−3 )
2 2

I =1.01313 ×10−4kgm2

 EXPERIMENTAL VALUE OF DISK:

r = 1.5cm = 0.015m ; m =25g = 0.025kg
 τ rmg (0.015)(0.025)(9.8)
I (Disk + pulley)¿ I= =
α α 29.7

I (Disk + pulley) =1.2373 ×10−4kgm2

rmg (0.015)(0.025)(9.8)
IPULLEY = =
α 134

IPULLEY = 5.4850 ×10−4kgm2

IDISK EXP = I (Disk + pulley) - IPULLEY

IDISK EXP = 1.1824 ×10−4 kgm2

exp .VALUE −THEORETICAL. VALUE

% Difference of Disk = ×100
THEORETICALVALUE

(1.1824 ×10−4 )−(1.01313× 10− 4)

% Difference of Disk = ×100
(1.01313 ×10−4)

% Difference of Disk = 11%

 FOR RING:

 THEORETICAL VALUE RING:

M =102.6g = 0.1026kg
Internal diameter = 79.15mm
Internal radius = R1 = 39.57mm = 0.03957m
External diameter =87.7mm
External radius = R2 = 43.85mm = 0.04385m
1
I= M (R12+ R 22)
2

1 2 2
I = ( 0.1026)((0.03957) +(0.04385) )
2
IRING = 1.789×10−4kgm2

 EXPERIMENTAL VALUE OF RING:

 r = 1.5cm = 0.015m ; m =25g = 0.025kg

rmg (0.015)(0.025)(9.8)
IDisk+Ring+Pulley = =
α 10.869

IDisk+Ring+Pulley = 3.38117×10−4kgm2

IRING = IDisk+Ring+Pulley - I (Disk + pulley)

IRING = 2.147×10−4kgm2

(2.147 ×10−4 )−(1.789× 10−4 )

% Difference of Ring = ×100
(1.789 ×10−4)

% Difference of Ring = 19%

 FOR POINT MASSES:

 THEORETICAL VALUE OF POINT MASSES:

r1 =r2 = 18cm =0.18m ; m1 = m2 = 75.4g =0.0754kg
IPOINT MASSES = m1r1+ m2r2
IPOINT MASSES = 0.0488592 kgm2

 EXPERIMENTAL VALUE OF POINT MASSES:

rmg (0.015)(0.025)(9.8)
I(PULLEY+ROD) = =
α 9.87

I(PULLEY+ROD) = 3.723×10−4kgm2

rmg (0.015)(0.025)(9.8)
I(PULLEY+ROD+POINT MASSES) = =
α 0.069
I(PULLEY+ROD+POINT MASSES) = 0.053260 kgm2

I(POINT MASSES) = I(PULLEY+ROD+POINT MASSES) - I(PULLEY+ROD)

 I(POINT MASSES) = 0.052888 kgm2

exp .VALUE−THEORETICAL. VALUE

% Difference in point masses = ×100
THEORETICALVALUE

(0.052888)−(0.0488592)
% Difference in point masses= ×100
(0.0488592)

% Difference in point masses = 8.2%

 GRAPHS:

 PULLEY ROTATION WITH 5g:

 PULLEY ROTATION WITH 25g:

 DISK+PULLEY ROTATION WITH 25g:

 DISK+PULLEY ROTATION WITH 25g(-VE DIRECTION):

 PULLEY+DISK+RING ROTATION WITH 25g:

 PULLEY+DISK+RING ROTATION WITH 25g(-VE DIRECTION):

 ROD + PULLEY + POINT MASSES ROTATION WITH 25g:
  ROD +PULLEY ROTATION WITH 25g:

ANALYSIS:
In this experiment, we have learned how to set up the apparatus for the experiment and we
observed the rotational inertia of different objects such as disk, ring, pulley, and rod + point
masses.In the first 2 graphs, we have found the angular acceleration of the pulley with 5gram and
25 grams.
And in the next 2 graphs, we have to find the disk + pulley angular acceleration with 25 grams in
both clockwise and anticlockwise that’s why one graph gives us a positive straight line and the
second one gives us a straight line in a negative direction.
And in the next 2 graphs, we have to find the angular acceleration of pulley + disk + ring with
25g in both clockwise and anticlockwise by rotating the knob both in clock and anticlockwise
direction. We observe a straight line between angular velocity and time which gives us angular
acceleration.
In the last 2 graphs, we have to find the rotational inertia of rod + pulley and rod + point masses
+ pulley.
We have to find the angular acceleration which is a slope of angular velocity over time.
In the end, we have found the rotational acceleration of all objects by putting the values in the
following formula:

τ rF rmg
I= ; I= ; I=
α α α
Here “r” will be the radius of the pulley which is 1.5cm and “m” will be the mass we put in the
pulley and “g” is the gravitational acceleration and α will be the angular acceleration which we
find in the graph using the software.
We have compared both experimental and theoretical values of objects and we have found an
11% difference in the disk and 19% difference in the ring which is acceptable because it may be
possible due to some reason such as human error, miss-management of time, and may due to the
thick thread.
PRECAUTIONS:
1. Wear a mask and sanitize the hand before entering the labs.
2. Make sure your start and stop timing will be perfect.
3. Make sure that the pulley will be tangent to the rotational motion sensor.
4. Make sure your graph will be a straight line.
5. Make sure you have saved your readings and experiment.

 COMMENTS:
In this experiment, we have achieved our desired result and we have done our calculations.
Although we have found some differences between experimental and theoretical values of
disk and ring but it is acceptable due to some factors that may affect your readings. As shown
in our graphs that we obtain a straight line in every graph which means that we have
achieved our desired result.
In this experiment, we have observed relation between angular acceleration and rotational
inertia as shown in the formula above that both have an inverse relation between them. We
have observed that when angular acceleration increases, rotational inertia decreases due to
inverse relation.