PHYSICS LABORATORY WORK 2

ROATIONAL MOTION AND MOMENT INERTIA

T789703D

Report Writer: Rujan Bajracharya

Class: DIN14SN (Group 1)
Teacher: Susanna Kujanp
Date of Work: 22nd Jan 2015
Date of Return:
School of Engineering, Information
Technology and Telecommunications
Oulu University of Applied Science

CONTENTS
1. GIVEN TASK ...
2. ROTATIONAL MOTION ....
1

3. EQUIPMENT NEEDED....
4. MEASUREMENTS....
5. CALCULATION OF THE RESULTS..
6. ERROR ESTIMATION.
7. RESULTS
8. CONCLUSIONS AND WORK ESTIMATION
LITERARY SOURCES.
MEASUREMENT DOCUMENT..

1. GIVEN TASK
In the work, the moment of inertia of the rotating body is determined in relation
to the rotating axis.

2. ROTATIONAL MOTION
2

The rotating body is a rotating cylinder (torque plate), which has 64 slots along its
perimeter. Program COACH 5 is used to find and analyze information.

Light Gate

T
r

mg
String

a
1.

2.

THEORY:
In the Netwons 2nd law, the mass m has the equation:
F = ma,
EQUATION 1
And thus the value of the tension force of the string T is
T = mg mr
EQUATION 2
The body is in the end of the string and affects the string with the forces,
which has a value of T. Now the string affects the body with an equal, but
opposite force. The picture 1 shows the force T. The moment is defined by
equation
M = T.r = J.
EQUATION 3
3

From Equation 2 and 3,

Moment of Inertia (J) = (m.g.r)/ - m.r2

EQUATION 4

By using the equation 4, we have experimentally determined the moment of

inertia J of the rotating body in relation to the rotating axis, when the weight
mass m, the angular acceleration of the body and the acceleration of
gravity g are known.
If the body, whose moment of inertia is J, is added to the MLP-mass
additional weight distance RLP-friendly by the axis of rotation, is a song, and
the additional mass of system formed by the moment of inertia axis of
rotation of

Jln = J + mlp (rlp)2

EQUATION 5

3. Equipment Needed:
The following equipment is needed:
-

Light gate
Torque plate
Photo transistor
Measuring tape
Coach-Lab II
Weight Machine
Weights
Wires

4. Measurements:
In this experiment COACH 5 program is used to find and analyze information.
The measurements were carried out according to the instructions. The
results are presented in the measurement document (appendix 1).

Measurements are carried out in three cases. The wire is winded for three
different circumference of the disk, resulting in different values of angular
acceleration . Five parallel measurements are carried out on each
circumference, when the slope of error gets a rough estimate: the
average of the angular acceleration is calculated in five measurements and
the half of remainder of the biggest and smallest value is used as the error.
Also the number of the weights can be varied. The calculated moment of
inertia values should be as possible to each other.
In addition, the moment of inertia is measured for the system, where four
additional weight are added symmetrically around the torque plate. The total
mass of the additional weight mlp and the average distance of the rotation
axis rlp and their error limits are the measurement results.

5. Calculation of Result:
In the measurement document, with the help of COACH 5 Program angular
acceleration of torque plate is measure with the weight of 51 gm for 5
parallel measurements with circle having radius of 20 mm, 30 mm and 40
mm respectively. And finally taking the additional weight of 200.2gm angular
acceleration is measured for 5 times with circle of radius 20 mm. The
calculations to the results are given in table 1.
Table1: Angular Acceleration
Circle 1

Circle 2

Circle 3

r1 = 20 mm

r2 = 30 mm

r3 = 40 mm

1 = 2.64827

1 = 3.94758

1 = 5.30413

Additional
Weights
r = 40 mm
mlp = 200.2g
rlp = 100 mm
1 = 3.39329

2 = 2.76394

2 = 3.947525

2 = 5.28437

2 = 3.46345

3 = 2.62273

3 = 3.9082885

3 = 5.24344

3 = 3.49105

4 = 2.45437

4 = 3.863827

4 = 5.302537

4 = 3.391593

5 = 2.68137

5 = 4.06611

5 = 5.24322

5 = 3.4361528

Average
2.63414
= 0.1548

= Average
3.94667
= 0.10114

= Average
= Average
5.27553
3.43511
= 0.030455
= 0.04973

We have, Mass of weight m = 51 g and Mass of Additional weight mlp = 200.2

g.
By Using Equation 4,

1. Circle 1 :
J

mgr

- mr

51 0.001 kg 9.81 m/s 20 0.001m

2.63414

- 510.001kg

(200.001m )2

= 3.778 10-3 kgm2

2.

Circle 2 :

mgr
51 0.001 kg 9.81 m/s 30 0.001m
J - mr2 =
3.94667

- 510.001kg

(300.001m )2

= 3.757 10-3 kgm2

3. Circle 3 :
mgr
51 0.001 kg 9.81 m/s 40 0.001 m
J - mr2 =
5. 27553

510.001kg

(400.001m )2
=

3.712 10-3 kgm2

Then, after adding the weight 200.1 gm in the disk and using the
definition,
Jlp = J + mlp(rlp)2
J = Jlp - mlp(rlp)2
=

51 0.001 kg 9.81 m/s 40 0.001 m

3. 43511

- 510.001kg(400.001m)2 ) -

(200.20.001kg(1000.001m)2)
= 3.74210-3 kgm2

Moment of inertia J is obtained which is 3.742 10 -3 kgm2.

ERROR ESTIMATION
By way of the total differentiation, the following error is
received from the moment of inertia equation in relation error
to the variables m, r, and g:
EQUATION 5
The measurement error in m, r and g are 0.01 gm, 0.5 mm
and 0.01 m/s2 respectively. is obtained by the half of
remainder of the biggest and smallest value of angular
acceleration.
i.e = (maximum minimum) / 2

Calculation of Relative Error:

1. Circle 1: