Lecture 12

Moment of Inertia: Theorems

There are two key theorems that you will frequently need to use in order to calculate moments
of inertia: The Parallel and Perpendicular Axis Theorems:
12.1 Perpendicular Axis Theorem (For a Plane Lamina)
We consider our plane lamina focusing on the mass element m
i
O
v
m
r
x
y
z

i
Recall that the moment of inertia about the z axis was calcuated as,
I
z
=

i
m
i
(x
2
i
+ y
2
i
) =

i
m
i
x
2
i
+

i
m
i
y
2
i
(12.1)
but

i
m
i
x
2
i
is just the moment of inertia, I
y
about the y axis (since the lamina lies in the
xy plane and, thus, z
i
= 0 for all of the mass elements). Similarly,

i
m
i
y
2
i
is the moment
of inertia I
x
about the x axis.
Therefore, we arrive at the Perpendicular Axis Theorem,
I
z
= I
x
+ I
y
(12.2)
57
LECTURE 12. MOMENT OF INERTIA: THEOREMS 58
Example 12.1 Perpendicular Axis Theorem Applied to a Circular Disc Consider a thin cir-
cular disc lying in the xy plane. We showed last lecture that,
I
z
=
1
2
ma
2
(12.3)
Now, from symmetry it is clear that I
x
= I
y
. Thus, from Equation 12.2, we conclude that:
I
x
= I
y
=
1
4
ma
2
(12.4)
12.2 Parallel-Axis Theorem (for Rigid Bodies)
Consider the expression for the moment of inertia about the z axis:
I
z
=

i
m
i
(x
2
i
+ y
2
i
)
Let us transform to center-of-mass coordinates:
x
i
= x
cm
+ x

i
y
i
= y
cm
+ y

i
Such that I
z
becomes,
I
z
=

i
m
i
_
(x

i
)
2
+ (y

i
)
2
_
+

i
m
i
_
x
2
cm
+ y
2
cm
_
+ 2x
cm

i
m
i
x

i
+ 2y
cm

i
m
i
y

i
From the denition of the center-of-mass, the last two terms must vanish. Therefore,
we are left with,
I
z
=

i
m
i
_
(x

i
)
2
+ (y

i
)
2
_
+
_

i
m
i
_
_
x
2
cm
+ y
2
cm

The rst term in the above equation is the moment of inertia about an axis parallel to
the z axis and passing through the center-of-mass, call it I
cm
.
The second term is just the total mass multiplied by the square of the distance between
the center of mass and the z axis, which we will denote by l,
l
2
= x
2
cm
+ y
2
cm
We these identications, we arrive at the Parallel Axis Theorem:
I = I
cm
+ Ml
2
(12.5)
which is valide for all rigid bodies (including 3D solid objects and 2D lamina).
LECTURE 12. MOMENT OF INERTIA: THEOREMS 59
i
r
cm
r
i
r
x
y
z
O
CM
m
i
x
y
z
z
a
a
O
y
Example 12.2 Parallel Axis Theorem Applied to a Circular Disc
We rst consider the moment of inertia about the z

axis in the above gure (that is,

an axis which is parallel to the z axis and perpendicular to the plane of the disc.
Since the z axis passes through the center of mass, we have I
cm
=
1
2
ma
2
.
The distance from any axis which is perpendicular to the plane of the disc and adjacent
to the edge of the disc is simply the radius, here given as a. Thus, l = a.
We conclude that,
I =
1
2
ma
2
+ ma
2
=
3
2
ma
2
(12.6)
Referring back to the gure above, we may also consider the moment of inertia about
an axis which is in the plane of the disc and tangent to the edge of the disc (labelled as
the y

axis).
LECTURE 12. MOMENT OF INERTIA: THEOREMS 60
The moment of inertia about the y axis was calculated earlier to be I
y
=
1
4
ma
2
. Thus,
since the distance from the edge to the y axis is also a, l = a and we nd that,
I =
1
4
ma
2
+ ma
2
=
5
4
ma
2
(12.7)