NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
1ST YEAR COMMON ENGINEERING COURSE
Formal Report of Experiment M1:
Moment of Inertia in Rigid Body Motion
Laboratory: Mechanics of Machines (MAE)
Location: N3-B1c-03
Name: Fan Weiming
Group: AL27
Matriculation Number: U1022545A
Date of submission: 28/10/2010
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Content
Topics Page
1. Introduction
2. Objectives
3. Theory
4. Equipment List
5. Experiment Procedure
6. Results
7. Discussion
8. Conclusion
9. References
10. Appendix
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1. Introduction
Applying Newton’s second law to a rigid body rotating about a fixed axis leads to
T=I ∝
where T is the torque about the axis, ∝is the angular acceleration, and Iis the
mass moment of inertia of the body about the axis. Just as mass is a measure of
inherent property of resistance to translation, moment of inertia is a measure of
inherent tendency to resist rotational motion.
While it is fairly intuitive to appreciate the physical significance of the first
moment of mass, it is more difficult to do the same for the second moment, or
moment of inertia. However, from this experiment, the effect and determination
of moment of inertia in rigid body motion will be demonstrated and investigated.
2. Objectives
Understand the effect of moment of inertia in rotational motion of rigid bodies
and to determine experimentally the moments of inertia of some objects about
an axis.
3. Theory
3.1 Moment of Inertia
Consider a body of mass m which is to be rotated about a fixed axis AA’ (Fig.
1a). Dividing the body into elements of mass ∆m1, ∆m2 etc., the rotational
resistance of the body can be measured by the sum r12∆m1 + r22∆m2 + … This
sum therefore defines the moment of inertia of the body with respect to the axis
AA’. Increasing the number of elements, the moment of inertia is equal at the
limit, to the integral over the domain of the body Ω:
IA= Ωr2dm
(1)
This mathematical definition can be used to compute the moment of inertia of
machine members, and tables are available in mechanics text and handbooks
that contain expressions for moments of inertia determined this way for standard
shapes. In Appendix A, it is seen that for the same geometric shape, the moment
of inertia can be different for different axis. However, experimental methods of
determination are often used for complex shapes, such as connecting rods and
cams. Note that the moment of inertia of a body depends on the particular
reference axis as well as on the shape fo the body and the manner in which its
mass is distributed. The moment of inertia is expressed in units of kgm2.
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