Lab Number and Title: Lab 127: Torque and Rotational Inertia

Name: —------- Group ID: 0

Date of Experiment: 00/00/0000 Date of Submission: 00/00/0000
Course & Section Number: PHYS 111A001 Instructor’s Name:
Partners’ Names:

Introduction:
The rotational inertia of a body is a measure of how difficult it is to change its angular
velocity, and depends on both the mass of the body and its distribution of mass. The
rotational inertia of a body can be computed by summing the products of the mass of each
particle in the body and the square of its distance from the axis of rotation

Experimental Procedure:
For this lab, To solve for the angular acceleration we used the equation Στ=Iα. This gave us
the equation α=Στ/I. Then we used the equation ω2=ω0+2αθ to solve for the final angular
velocity. Once we had that we used the equation ω=v/r to solve for the final velocity. To
solve for the kinetic energy we used the equation K=½Iω2. To find the force we used the
equation F=ma

Results:
Table 1

Object Mass [kg] Radius [m] Rotational Inertia [kg*m^2]

Disk M = 1.43 R = 0.117 through center of mass = 0.0098

through diameter = 0.0049

Ring M = 1.4271 R1 (inner) = 0.065 0.065

R2 (outer) = 0.068
Table 2
Step pulley radius: r = 0.025 [m]

Case Run Hanging Linear Tension Torque Angular Total Rotational

Mass, m Acceleration, [N] [Nm] Acceleration Inertia [kg*m^2]
[kg] a [m/s^2] T = m(g-a) r = rT [rad/s] I = r/a
a = a/r

Disk1 1 0.0229 1.466 0.171 0.195 0.876

2 0.15 0.0225 1.467 0.172 0.192 0.896
3 0.0222 1.467 0.172 0.189 0.910

Step-pulley 1 2.6 0.36 0.009 104 0.00009

and shaft 2 0.05 2.66 0.357 0.009 106.4 0.00008
3 2.68 0.356 0.009 107.2 0.00008

Disk1 + 1 0.0144 1.468 0.095 0.221 0.430

Ring 2 0.15 0.0143 1.468 0.095 0.22 0.431
3 0.0143 1.468 0.095 0.22 0.431

Disk2 1 0.0349 1.465 0.171 0.298 0.574

2 0.15 0.0368 1.464 0.171 0.314 0.544
3 0.0367 1.464 0.171 0.314 0.544

Table 3

Case Rotational Inertia [kg*m^2]

Theoretical Experimental % error

Disk through center of 0.0098 0.0095 3

mass

Disk through diameter 0.0049 0.0045 8.1

Ring 0.0063 0.0054 14.2

Calculations:

Center of mass =

Diameter =

Ring =

Tension = 0.15(9.8-0.0229) = 1.466

Torque = 0.117*1.466 = 0.171
Angular Acceleration = 0.0229/0.117 = 0.195
Total Rotational Inertia = 0.171/0.195 = 0.876

Analysis and Discussion:

Though our results are very close, there was still error to be expected. We believe that this
error is because of minor things such as friction in the string, machine error, and calculation
error.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the lab was very informative. We learned a lot about the Torque force and its
relation to tension. We learned how to apply the laws of the Moment of Inertia within
rotating bodies. Though we encountered slight errors, we discovered that it was most likely
due to the unknown rotational inertia of the pulley.

Raw Data: