Rotational Inertia and Conservation of Angular Momentum

Courtney Paxson

Day and Date Performed: 11/05/12

Day and Date Due: 11/12/12

Day and Date Handed in: 11/12/12

Laura Buongiorno, Andrew Shaffer

Introduction
Data

Part 1

Mass of the disk (M): 1.467 kg Radius of the disk (R): 0.1135 m

Radius of the shaft (r): 0.00604 m Mass of ring (m): 1.435 kg

Inner radius of ring (R1): 0.051 m Outer radius of ring (R2): 0.0605 m

Table 1. Disk Alone:

Force of Angular Final Tension T T fk Net torque Moment of Moment

Kinetic Acceleration angular in string (N) =r(T-fk) inertia I=1/2 of inertia
Friction fk (rad/s2) velocity (N) (Nm) MR2+1/2 I=/=r(T-
(N) (rad/s) m(R12+R22) fk)/
(kgm2) (kgm2)

0.245 1.794 13.04 2.99 2.745 0.017 0.009 0.00924

Table 2. Disk + Ring:

Force of Angular Final Tension T T fk Net torque Moment of Moment

Kinetic Acceleration angular in string (N) = r(T-fk) inertia I=1/2 of inertia
Friction fk (rad/s2) velocity (N) (Nm) MR2+1/2 I=/=r(T-
(N) (rad/s) m(R12+R22) fk)/
(kgm2) (kgm2)

0.343 0.7578 8.513 2.01 1.667 0.01 0.0135 0.0132

Table 3. Part 2:

Angular Angular Moment of Moment of Angular Angular

velocity before velocity after inertia of disk inertia of disk momentum momentum
ring is dropped ring is dropped (I=1/2MR2) I=1/2 MR2+1/2 before ring is after ring is
(i) (rad/s) (f) (rad/s) (kgm2) m(R12+R22) dropped dropped
(kgm2) (L=Iii) (L=Iff)
(kgm2/s) (kgm2/s)

11.189 7.311 0.009 0.0135 0.1007 0.0987

Sample Calculations:

Calculating Force of Kinetic Friction:

Calculating Tension (T) in the String:

Calculating Net Torque:

Calculating Experimental Moment of Inertia:

I = 0.00924

Calculating Moment of Inertia:

Calculating Moment of Inertia of Disk & Ring:

Calculating Angular Momentum:

Calculating Percent Difference:

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Graphs/Charts:

Figure 1: Angle (radians) versus Time (seconds) for the rotating disk.

Figure 2: Velocity (radians/second) versus time (seconds) for the rotating disk.
Figure 3: Angle (radians) versus the time (seconds) for the rotating disk and ring.

Figure 4: Velocity (radians/second) versus the Time (seconds) for the rotating disk and ring
Figure 5: Angle (radians) vs. time (seconds) for the demonstration of the conservation of momentum

Figure 6: Velocity (radians/second) versus time (seconds) for the demonstration of the conservation of
momentum.

Questions:

Part 1:

1. In your data table in Part 1, you have two values for the moment of inertia. One if found from
the theoretical equation for moment of inertia that is introduced in the Theory section and
the other is an experimental value obtained using Newtons 2nd law for rotational motion,
=I, in conjunction with the definition of torque, =rF. How well do your two values agree
with each other? What is the percent difference?
 The percent difference between the experimental moment of inertia (0.00924) and the
calculated moment of inertia (0.009) was only 2.63%. Therefore, these values do indeed agree
with one another strongly.

Part 2:

2. How do your values for the angular momentum before and after the ring is dropped onto the
disk compare? What is the percent difference?

The angular momentum before and after the ring was dropped was indeed similar. The percent
difference was 2.01%.

3. Does there appear to be an inverse relationship between moment of inertia and angular
velocity?

Yes, there appears to be an inverse relationship between moment of inertia and angular
velocity. This agrees with law of conservation of momentum. As moment of inertia increases,
angular velocity decreases and vice versa.

4. How well do your results support the theory of conservation of momentum?

The results from this experiment highly support the theory of conservation of momentum. This
is shown through the low percent difference between the angular momentum before ring is
dropped and the angular momentum after ring is dropped.