E203: MOMENT OF INERTIA

DE VEGA, Kim Lawrence M.

OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this experiment is to measure the
objects resistance to change in a rotation
direction. For the first part, the solid disk was
rotated at the center. The moment of the disk
and ring was determined as well as the moment
of the disk alone. From the data gathered, the
moment of the disk alone is smaller compared to
the moment of the disk and ring. For the latter
part of the experiment, the solid disk is rotated
along its diameter. The computed moment was
reduced in half due to the distribution of weight
was less compared when the disk was positioned
horizontally.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The materials used for this experiment were a set
of rotating platform, disk, ring, a photo gate, a
smart timer, a smart pulley, set of weights, a
mass hanger and a vernier caliper. The
experiment was divided into four parts. Before
the experiment started, the mounting rod was
attached to the smart pulley and photo gate
head. The mass hanger was connected to a
thread that passed over the smart pulley and was
looped around the cylinder along the vertical
shaft. The smart timer was connected to the
photo gate head and was set to accel, linear

pulley. The first part was the determination of

moment of inertia of disk and ring. the ring was
placed on the disk and a vernier caliper was used
to measure the diameter of the shaft, from the
diameter measured the radius was computed. A
small amount of mass was added to the hanger
to overcome kinetic friction which was the friction
mass. Different masses were added to the
hanger and the reading from the smart timer was
considered its acceleration. Three trials were
made. The actual value of moment of inertia of
the disk and ring was computed using the
formula:

2
1

2
1
2 1
I TOTAL = M DISK R + M RING +R2 )
2
2

(1)

The experimental value of moment of inertia was

computed using the formula:

I=

m ( ga ) r
a

(2)

For the second part, the moment of inertia of disk

rotated about the center was determined. For this
part the ting was removed from the disk and
same procedure was done. The experimental
value was calculated using equation (2) while the
actual value was computed using the formula:
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1
I DISK = M DISK R 2
2

(3)

For the determination of the actual moment of

inertia ring, it was calculated using the formula:
2

R1
2
1
I RING = M RING +R2 )
2

(4)

The experimental value for the moment of inertia

ring was calculated using the formula:

I RING(EXPTL)=I TOTAL(EXPTL)I DISK( EXPTL)

(5)

For the last part which was the determination of

moment of inertia disk rotated about its diameter,
the disk was positioned vertically and same
procedure as the first part was done. The
experimental value was computed using equation
(2).The actual value was computed using the
formula:

1
I DISK = M DISK R 2
4

Fig. 2 Moment of Inertia of the Disk rotated

about the center set-up

(6)

The mean experimental inertia was compared

with the actual value using the percentage
difference formula:

actual+ experimental
(
)
2
%diff =

actualexperimental

x100%

Fig. 3 Moment of Inertia of the Disk & Ring Setup

(7)

Fig. 1 Materials used

Fig. 4 Moment of Inertia of the Disk rotated

about the diameter set-up

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OBSERVATIONS AND RESULTS

Table 1: Weights and Lengths Measured
Constant Values
MDISK
1480 g
MRING
1428.2 g
RDISK
11.35 in
R1
5.37 in
R2
6.375 in
Radius, r
Table 2: Moment of Inertia of Disk and Ring
Trial
Mass,m
Acceleration Inertia
1
00 g
00 cm/s2
gcm2
2
00 g
00 cm/s2
gcm2
2
3
00 g
00 cm/s
gcm2
average
gcm2
% difference
%
The actual value of inertia of the disk and ring
was computed using the values on table 1 and
using equation (1):

5.37

1
1
I TOTAL = (1480) ( 11.35 )2+ (1428.2) +6.3752)
2
2

=141721.9881
The mass needed to overcome the friction was 20
grams. The reading from the smart timer was
recorded and the experimental value of inertia
was computed using equation (2):

I=

35 ( 9800.2 ) 0.2252
0.2

=116703.3656

It can be observed from the table that as the

mass added increases, the acceleration increases.
But for the computed inertia, as the mass and
acceleration increases, it decreases. From
equation (2), inertia is directly proportional to the
product of the mass, the difference between the
gravitational acceleration and the acceleration
and the square of the radius of the shaft but
inversely proportional to the acceleration which
was the reading from the smart timer. After three
trials, the average inertia was computed and
followed by the computation of the percentage
difference using equation (7):

I TOTAL =

116703.3656 +103345.2906+11655.7219
3

=113902.4324

141721.9881+113902.43
(
2
%diff =

141721.9881113902.4324

x100% =21.77%
Based from the computed percentage difference,
the data obtained for the experimental value of
inertia is accurate.
Table 3: Moment of Inertia of Disk (rotated
about the center)
Trial
Mass,m
Acceleration Inertia
1
00 g
00 cm/s2
gcm2
2
2
00 g
00 cm/s
gcm2
3
00 g
00 cm/s2
gcm2
The actual value of inertia of the disk rotated
about the center was computed using equation
(1):

1
I DISK = (1430)(11.35)2 =92108.0875
2
The mass used to overcome friction was 10 g. No
trend can be observed from the data, but it is
understood that the data is less compared to the
data from table 2 since only the inertia of the
disk was computed and the ring was removed.
Though the computed percentage difference is
quite larger than table 2, the data obtained for
the value of inertia is still accurate. Determining
the actual value of inertia of the ring is the same
as the one done with the disk inertia, it is
computed using equation (4):

5.37

1
I RING = (1428.2) +6.3752)
2

= 49613.9006

However, the experimental moment of inertia for

the ring alone cannot be performed because of its
hollow center, but is can be computed
mathematically using the total experimental
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inertia as a minuend and having the experimental

disk inertia as the subtrahend or simply using
equation (5) followed by the computation of the
percentage difference:

I RING(EXPTL)=113902.432476861.09
=37041.3424

76861.09+113902.4324
(
)
2
%diff =

76861.09113902.4324

x100% =18.05%
Table 4: Moment of Inertia of Disk (rotated
about the diameter)
Trial
Mass,m
Acceleration Inertia
1
00 g
00 cm/s2
gcm2
2
2
00 g
00 cm/s
gcm2
3
00 g
00 cm/s2
gcm2
The mass needed to overcome friction was 10 g.
The actual value of the inertia of the disk was
computed using equation (6):

1
I DISK = M DISK R 2
4
From the data above, it can be observed that the
inertia decreases with increasing mass and
acceleration. Compared with the data from table
2, the data is decreased by half. The disk is
positioned
vertically
affecting
the
weight
distribution much less like the horizontal position.
When the disk is positioned vertically, the weight
distribution is concentrated onto the shaft, but
when the disk is positioned horizontally, the
weight distribution is equal. The experimental
value of the moment of the disk is computed
using equation (2). The average inertia was
computed then the percentage difference using
equation (7):

I DISK (EXPTL)

76861.09+113902.4324
(
)
2
%diff =

76861.09113902.4324

x100% =18.05%

The data is still accurate though it was the part of

the experiment where the computed percentage
difference was the highest.
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
In this experiment, we need to determine the
moment of inertia in any change of direction. In
the first part, we need to determine the Moment
of Inertia of Disk and Ring. In the second part,
we need to determine the Moment of Inertia of
Disk (rotated about the center) and in the last
part, we need to determine the Moment of Inertia
of Disk (rotated about the diameter). Inertia is
the property of a body to resist any change in its
uniform motion. This uniform motion was
determined by the frictional mass, in which is the
mass that can have a body on a uniform motion.
The moment of inertia depends on the mass of
the body and the chosen axis of rotation. Inertia
varies with position acquired by the object, and
proves its point. The moments of inertia of a solid
disk rotated at two different axes proved its
point. From the results, the disk that is rotated
about the center gives inertia larger than the one
rotated about the diameter. The inertia of the
disk rotated about the diameter is reduced by
half due to the weight distribution across the disk
onto the shaft.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT & REFERENCE
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to
my group mates who made the experiment a
success, to the institute that provided the
instruments we needed for this experiment in
order for us to learn, to our professor that guided
us and provided us the instructions and
techniques in order to execute the experiment
and obtained a realistic and decent data, and
lastly to God for providing us the knowledge we
needed and the chance to be able to perform the
experiment.
Halliday, D., Resnick, R., & Walker, J. (2014).
Principles of Physics, 10th Ed, John Wiley & Sons
Singapore Pte. Ltd., Singapore. (ABSTRACT)
Young, H., Freedman, R., Sears, F., Zemansky, M.
(1949). University Physics, 12th Ed, Pearson
Education, United States. (MATERIALS AND
METHODS)
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