P HYSICS LAB

REPORT NO.1

CALCULATION OF ANGULAR VELOCITY AND MOMENT OF INERTIA

SUBMITTED BY:

MUHAMMAD TANVEER IQBAL

JAMAL AHMED
HANZLA SHAHID
ABDUL LATIF
SEHAR KHALID

SUBMITTED TO:

MISS SANA ZULFIQAR

INSTITUTE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY

PHYSICS LAB REPORT NO. 1

Objective:
 To calculate the moment of inertia of a circular rotating disk and its angular velocity

Apparatus:
 Rotating Center
 25.5 cm Diameter Platter
 150 cm String
 Digital Timer
 100 g Weight
 Stopwatch (For Manual Timing)
 Weight Holder
 Card Piece (For Digital Timer)
 Vernier Caliper
 Bubble Level
 Photo gate
 Smart Pulley

Theory:
 Angular Velocity:

For an object rotating about an axis, every point on the object has the same angular
velocity. The tangential velocity of any point is proportional to its distance from the axis of
rotation. Angular velocity has the unit rad/s.

Angular velocity is the rate of change of angular displacement and can

be described by the relationship.

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PHYSICS LAB REPORT NO. 1

And if v is constant, the angle can be calculated from

Angular velocity can be considered to be a vector quantity, with direction along the axis of
rotation in the right-hand rule sense.

 Moment of Inertia

Moment of inertia is the name given to rotational inertia, the rotational analog
of mass for linear motion. It appears in the relationships for the dynamics of rotational
motion. The moment of inertia must be specified with respect to a chosen axis of rotation.
For a point mass the moment of inertia is just the mass times the square of perpendicular
distance to the rotation axis, I = mr 2. That point mass relationship becomes the basis for all
other moments of inertia since any object can be built up from a collection of point masses.

Moment of Inertia is a property of rigid bodies. Moment of Inertia is always relative to a

given axis. The same rigid body will usually have different Moments of Inertia for different
axes, even through its own centre of mass. Being a scalar, it is additive, so that the Moment
of Inertia of a composite body is the sum of the Moments of Inertia of its parts (relative to
the same axis).

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 Four formulas:

There are four principal formulas to know for moment of inertia:

1. They are of a point mass m about an axis, I = mr², where r is the distance
between the point mass and the axis.
2. They are of a uniform rod of mass m and length 2L about an axis through
its midpoint and perpendicular to its length, I = ⅓mL².
3. They are of a rectangular lamina of mass m, length 2L and any width
about an axis which bisects the length, I = ⅓mL².
4. They are of a circular disc of mass m and radius r about an axis through its
centre and perpendicular to the disc, I = ½mr².

Procedure:
1. To minimize friction, the disk surfaces must be clean. Use the cleaning pad to do
this.
2. Take a string of measurement approximately 150 cm and wrap it around the central
pulley of the rotating center.
3. Take the other end of the string and attach to the weight holder.
4. Setup the digital timer and the platter so that a piece of card is sticking over the
platter to mark the position and measurement of oscillations as it passes through the
Interval Timer.
5. A piece of card is used to ensure that the Interval Timer works properly.
6. Take the weight holder and add a 100 g weight to the holder.
7. Place the holder by moving the string over the hinge pulley.

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 PHYSICS LAB REPORT NO. 1

8. Take measurement of oscillations by releasing the weight at the hinge pulley and
simultaneously activating the digital timer in Fence mode.
9. For stopwatch repeat the above steps and take oscillations using the stopwatch as
the timing device.

Observations:
 Using Digital Timer:

No. of complete Time Taken (in Time Taken (in Time Taken (in Average Time
Oscillations of seconds) t1 seconds) t2 seconds) t3 tavg1
Platter
1 Oscillations 0.5337 s 0.5433 s 0.5421 s 0.54 s
6 Oscillations 3.3757 s 3.4110 s 3.3701 s 3.39 s
10 Oscillations 5.8898 s 5.8110 5.4321 s 5.71 s

 Using Stopwatch:

No. of complete Time Taken (in Time Taken (in Time Taken (in Average Time
Oscillations of seconds) t1 seconds) t2 seconds) t3 tavg2
Platter
1 Oscillations 0.59 s 0.54s 0.60 s 0.58 s
6 Oscillations 3.51 s 3.41 s 3.48 s 3.47 s
10 Oscillations 6.78 s 6.82 s 6.57 s 6.72 s

Calculations:
Distance s=0.85 meter, Mass of Platter m=0.991 kg, Radius of Platter r= 0.1275 meter

Time for 10 Linear Velocity Angular velocity Moment of Inertia

oscillations (sec) v=s/t w=v/r (rad/s) M=(1/2)*m*r2
(m/s)
Stop Watch 6.72 0.126488 0.992063
Digital Timer 5.71 0.148862 1.167542 0.008054972
Error 1.01 0.022374 0.175479

Problems that cause Errors:

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PHYSICS LAB REPORT NO. 1

 Not measuring the step pulley diameter accurately.

 Using diameters in the equations instead of radii.
 Winding the string in more than one layer.
 Winding the string on the wrong level of the step pulley.
 Winding the string around the spindle instead of the step pulley.

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