ROTATIONAL MOTION OF BODY

Name: George Kenji Putra (0304559)

Group Members:
1. Muhammad Azim bin Mohd. Shariffuddin
2. Chang Zhi Ming
School of Engineering
Taylors University
Malaysia
28 June 2013

Date of Experiment:26/05/2013
Report due date:28/06/2013
Report submission date:28/06/2012
Checked by: Miss Fariza Abdul R.
Item/ Marks

Format (10)

Abstract and Introduction
(10)

Figures and Diagrams (15)

Materials and Method (10)

Results & Discussion (45)

References (10)

Total

1

Table of Contents
ABSTRACT 2
1.0 INTRODUCTION 2
2.0 EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN 2
2.1 Materials 2
2.2 Methods 4
2.3 Procedure 4
3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 5
3.1 Result Tabulation 5
3.2 Discussion 7
4.0 CONCLUSION 8
REFERENCES 9
2

ABSTRACT
This objective of the experiment is to determine the angular acceleration as a function
of torque and also to determine the moment of inertia as a function of the distance of
the body from the axis and its mass. After conducting this experiment and analyzing the
data, it is concluded that the moment of inertia increases as the distance of the body
from the axis increases, and the same outcome can be said for the relationship between
torque and angular acceleration.

1.0 INTRODUCTION
Rotational is about rigid body rotating about its center of the mass restrained to move in
a concentric circle. There is a vertical, rotating axle with agate bearing supports a
crossbar for holding the weight to perform this experiment the force of the driving
weight is transferred via a pulley and a cord wrapped around a spindle on the axis.
2.0 EXPERIMENT DESIGN

2.1 Materials

Figure 1 Rotational Body of Motion in Detail
3

Name by the numbers:
1. Weight discs, 100g, 8mm boring
2. Weight discs, 200g, 8mm boring
3. Deflection pulley
4. Thread, 3m
5. Hanger for slotted weights, 10g
6. Slotted weights, grey, 10g
7. Slotted weight, red, 20g
8. Hollow aluminum rod
9. Plastic weight fasteners
10. Spindle
11. Base and mount


Figure 2 Rotational Body of Motion Experiment
4

2.2Methods
The experiment was set up as according to Figure 1 and Figure 2. In this experiment, the
independent variables are the distances between the positions of the slotted weights to
the center of the aluminum rod, where there are 3 different distances which are
100mm, 150mm and 200mm; the mass of the weights that will be put on the hanger,
which are 10g, 20g, and 40g; and 3 sets of weights to be attached to the sides of the
rods which consists of 100g, 200g and 300g. When the weight at the hanger is released,
the rod will spin freely on its axis. After the weight at the hanger has hit the floor, the
rod will continue spinning, and the time taken for one spin is recorded. A number of
rotations were taken with the time for the rotations, and the time for one rotation is the
taken from the average of the few rotations.

2.3 Procedure
The masses were placed on the crossbar and secured with weight fasteners,
thread were inserted and winded around the spindle, the thread were run over a
pulley, winded up, and connected to the mass hanger. The mass hanger was
being held first.
The mass hanger was released. One student recorded the time between the
release of the hanger and when it touches the ground.
As soon as the hanger touches the ground, a second student recorded the time it
took for the crossbar to rotate a few times. This measurement was taken before
the apparatus had slowed down.
The angular velocity, , of the crossbar is calculated in radians per second.
The angular acceleration is calculated from the given equation:
= / t
Where is the change in angular velocity, and t is the time taken for the mass
to fall.
The experiment was repeated by changing the weights and distances.
5

3.0 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 Results Tabulation and Graph
No Hanger
Mass
(g)
Mass on
the Rod
(g)
Total
Mass
(g)
Position
(mm)
Time
(s)

Inertia
(I)

e

T

1 10 200 210 100 31.25 5.03 0.16 0.002 0.0004 0.0009
2 20 200 220 100 20.72 7.57 0.36 0.002 0.0009 0.0018
3 40 200 240 100 14.31 10.05 0.70 0.003 0.0018 0.0035
Table 1 100mm distance
No Hanger
Mass (g)
Mass
on the
Rod (g)
Total
Mass
(g)
Position
(mm)
Time
(s)

Inertia
(I)

e

T

1 10 200 210 150 44.97 4.97 0.11 0.005 0.0006 0.0009
2 20 200 220 150 29.07 5.74 0.20 0.005 0.0011 0.0018
3 40 200 240 150 20.31 8.73 0.43 0.006 0.0025 0.0035
Table 2 - 150mm distance
No Hanger
Mass (g)
Mass
on the
Rod (g)
Total
Mass
(g)
Position
(mm)
Time
(s)

Inertia
(I)

e

T

1 10 200 210 200 59.56 3.12 0.05 0.009 0.0005 0.0009
2 20 200 220 200 38.75 4.27 0.11 0.009 0.001 0.0018
3 40 200 240 200 26.65 8.38 0.31 0.01 0.0032 0.0035
Table 3 - 200mm distance

6


Graph 1 - Graph of Inertia versus Length

Graph 2 - Graph of Inertia versus Total Mass


0
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.008
0.01
0.012
0.2 0.3 0.4
I
n
e
r
t
i
a


Length
Graph of Inertia versus Length
100 mm
150 mm
200 mm
100 mm
150 mm
200 mm
0
0.002
0.004
0.006
0.008
0.01
0.21
0.22
0.24
I
n
e
r
t
i
a

Total Mass
Graph of Inertia versus Total Mass
100 mm
150 mm
200 mm
7

3.2 Discussion
Theoretical value of the torque can be calculated by using the following equations:

, where

Where r is radius of the spindle; F is driving force; is 90 since the thread is
perpendicular to the radius of the spindle; m is the total mass of slotted masses and
hanger; and g is the gravitational acceleration.
The moment of inertia can be calculated by measuring the distances to the masses on
the crossbar using the following equation:

Where M
Rod
is the mass of the crossbar; M
weights
is the total mass of the weight discs; L is
the distance to the masses on the crossbar; and R is the radius of weight discs.
The practical torque can finally be calculated using the following equation:

Where I is the moment of inertia and is the angular acceleration.
Based on the equations above, whenever the hanger mass increases, angular
acceleration will increase and also gravitational force which acting on the spindle will
increases. Whether the moment of inertia increase it not depends on the mass on the
rod and position of the mass. An increase of mass on the rod and position of the mass
causes an increase of moment of inertia. As the torque is constant throughout the
experiment, the angular acceleration will decrease in exchange moment of inertia
increases. The angular velocity needs to be decreases as the torque depends on the
moment of inertia and angular acceleration, and angular acceleration depends on
angular velocity. In result, bigger moment of inertia, higher torque is needed.
(2)
(1)
8

On the other hand, increasing the distance of the weight discs from the main axle
results in a higher moment of inertia, just like when heavier mass is used when the
distance to the axle is kept constant. It can also be observed that an increase in hanger
mass affects the angular acceleration; it increases proportionally to the angular velocity.
This is shown by the increase in theoretical and practical torques calculated from the
experiment. However, we need to consider the errors in the calculated values from the
data obtained, it is likely that human reaction time contributes to some errors during
the process of data recording. Average human reaction time can significantly error the
experiment results, this is shown when a human chooses a specific mark to determine
when the crossbar makes a full 360 rotation.
The inconsistencies of the calculated theoretical and practical torque values is likely due
to the inefficiency in the conversion of driving force to rotational torque. A number of
factors contribute into this efficiency, such as friction in the axle and air resistance. This
reduces the amount of potential energy converted into kinetic energy, and the rest of
the energy that is not converted into kinetic is converted into other forms of energy
such as heat and sound.

4.0 CONCLUSIONS
It is shown that based on the calculated values of theoretical and practical torques,
increasing the mass of the hanger and thus the driving force, increases the magnitude of
rotational torque. Also, an increase in the mass of weight discs and the distance
between the mounted weight discs and the crossbar produces higher inertia, hence less
torque.
Graph 1 shows that the relationship between inertia and the distance between weight
discs and the crossbar is quite linear. Same condition appears on Graph 2, when
describing the relationship between inertia and total mass.
9

Graph 2 shows that while an increase in distance between the weight discs to the
crossbar does results in similar increase in inertia, only an increase in the mass of the
weight discs will produce a similar effect. Adding weight to the hanger does not affect
the moment of inertia of the crossbar due to the weight of the hanger just to provide a
driving force to spin the crossbar, which was consistent given that only masses affixed to
the crossbar would affect its inertia.

REFERENCES
1. Taylors Laboratory Handbook
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotation_around_a_fixed_axis.
3. http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/physics/chapter10.rhtml
4. http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/581/RotationalMotion.html