1

Chapter 9

Rotation of Rigid Bodies

Rotational Motion

A rigid body moves in pure rotation if every point of the
body moves in a circular path. The centers of these circles
must lie on a common straight line called the axis of
rotation.


















2
9.1 Angular Velocity and Angular Acceleration

Consider the rotation f a rigid object about a fixed axis,










Then the arc length s is equal to

!
s = r "


The angular displacement
!
"# of the rotating body is
shown in the figure below,










3
the average angular velocity
ave
! is defined as

!
"
ave
#
$%
$t


while the instantaneous angular velocity ! is defined as

!
" = lim
#t $0
#%
#t
=
d%
dt


For a rigid body in pure rotation, the angular velocity ! is
the same for every point of the body.

The average angular acceleration
ave
! is equal to

t
ave
!
" !
= #

while the instantaneous angular acceleration ! equals


dt
d
t
t
!
=
"
! "
= #
$ " 0
lim




4
Angular Velocity as a Vector
One may use a right-hand rule to find the direction of the
angular velocity vector of a rotating object. Curl the
fingers of your right hand in the direction of the rotation
and your thumb will point in the direction of the angular
velocity vector
!
r
" .










Angular Acceleration as a Vector
When the rotation axis of the body is fixed, the angular
velocity vector
!
r
" and the angular acceleration vector
!
r
"
both lie along the same axis.

If the object spins faster and faster about a fixed axis, then

!
r
" and
!
r
" point in the same direction.







5
If the object spins more and more slowly about a fixed
axis, then
!
r
" and
!
r
" point in opposite directions.











9.2 Rotation with Constant Angular Acceleration

The kinematic equations for rigid body rotation about a
fixed axis are

!
" #"
o
=$
o
t +
1
2
%t
2


t
o
! + " = "

!
"
2
="
o
2
+ 2# $ %$
o
( )





6
9.3 Relating Linear and Angular Kinematics

Differentiating the arc length expression


!
s = r "

with respect to time yields

!
ds
dt
= r
d"
dt


!
v
||
=r"

Differentiating once again with respect to time yields

!
dv
||
dt
= r
d"
dt


!
a
||
= r "

Note that from our previous expression for centripetal
acceleration,
!
a
"
=
v
||
2
r
=
(# r)
2
r
, we can show that

!
a
"
=#
2
r

7
The net acceleration of a point P on a rigid body rotating
about a fixed axis is thus


!
r
a
net
=
r
a
||
+
r
a
"






8
9.4 Energy on Rotational Motion

Moment of Inertia (or Rotational Inertia)
The moment of inertia I of an object is a quantity that
describes the mass of a body and its distribution relative
to the axis of rotation.

Mass can be regarded as the property of an object that
represents resistance to changes in its linear state of
motion, i.e., to linear accelerations.

Moment of Inertia represents resistance to changes in the
objects rotational state of motion, i.e., to angular
acceleration.

A. Moment of Inertia I of a system of N discrete particles
rotating about the same fixed axis.


!
I = m
i
r
i
2
i=1
N
"


where r
i
is the perpendicular distance from the axis of
rotation to the ith particle, and m
i
is the mass of the ith
particle.



9
Rotational Kinetic Energy

When a rigid body rotates about a fixed axis, the speed of
the ith particle is given by
!
v
i
=r"
i
. The kinetic energy of
the ith particle is thus equal to

!
1
2
m
i
v
i
2
=
1
2
m
i
r
i
2
"
2


The total kinetic energy of the rotating body is the sum of
the kinetic energies of all its component particles. Thus,

!
KE =
1
2
m
i
r
i
2
"
2
i
#
=
1
2
1
2
m
i
r
i
2
i
#
$
%
&
'
(
)
"
2


!
KE =
1
2
I"
2


Gravitational Potential Energy of an Extended body
The gravitational potential energy of a body of total mass
M is written as

!
U
gravity
= M g y
cm


where y
cm
is the height of the bodys center of mass above
a reference level.

10
9.5 The Parallel-Axis Theorem
The moment of inertia I of any body about an arbitrary
axis equals the moment of inertia about a parallel axis
through the center of mass I
CM
plus the total mass M times
the squared distance h
2
between the two axes.

!
I
some
axis
= I
CM
and parallel
tothat axis
+ M d
2


9.6 Moment of Inertia of Extended Solid Bodies

dm r I
!
=
2















11
Center of Mass and Center of Gravity

The center of mass depends on the distribution of mass
within the body.

The center of gravity is defined for bodies in a
gravitational field. To calculate the center of gravity of
the body, we must know not only the mass distribution of
the body, but also the variation of g
r
over the body. If g
r
is
not constant over the extent of the body, then the center of
gravity and the center of mass will not coincide.