Chapter - SYSTEM OF PARTICLES AND ROTATIONAL MOTION

RIGID BODY
• Rigid body is a body with a perfectly definite and unchanging shape. The
distances between all pairs of particles of such a body do not change.
• No real body is truly rigid, since
real bodies deform under the
influence of forces.

• But in many situations the

deformations are negligible.

• E.g.: wheels, tops, steel beams,

molecules and planets on the other
hand, we can ignore that they warp,
bend or vibrate and treat them as
rigid.

RIGID BODY MOTION

• In pure translational motion at any instant of time all particles of the body
have the same velocity.
• In rotation of a rigid body about a fixed axis, every particle of the body moves
in a circle, which lies in a plane perpendicular to the axis and has its centre
on the axis.
• The motion of a rigid body which is not pivoted or fixed in some way is either
a pure translation or a combination of translation and rotation. The motion
of a rigid body which is pivoted or fixed in some way is rotation

CENTRE OF MASS
• Imaginary point where the whole mass of system can be assumed to be
concentrated
• The centre of mass of two bodies lies in a straight line.
(Here m1 & m2 are two bodies such that m1 is at a distance x1 from O, &
m2 at a distance x2 from O.)
VECTOR PRODUCT

• Properties of vector product

CONSERVATION OF ANGULAR MOMENTUM

• If the total external torque on a system of particles is zero, then the total
angular momentum of the system is conserved
• If texternal = 0, then dL/dt = 0 => L = constant

MOMENT OF INERTIA

• Moment of inertia (I) is analogue of mass in rotational motion.

• Moment of inertia about a given axis of rotation resists a change in its

rotational motion, also regarded as a measure of rotational inertia of the
body.
• Moment of inertia of a rigid body depends on
▪ Mass of the body M
▪ Its shape and size S
▪ Distribution of mass about the axis of rotation AOR
▪ The position and orientation of the axis of rotation P
PERPENDICULAR AND PARALLEL AXIS THEOREM
MOMENT OF INERTIAS OF DIFFERENT RIGID OBJECTS

ROTATIONAL INERTIA AND ANGULAR SECOND LAW REVIEW

Term(symbol)
Rotational inertia (II)
Meaning
Resistance to change in rotational velocity
around an axis of rotation. Proportional to
the mass and affected by the distribution of
mass. Also called the moment of inertia.
Scalar quantity with SI units of kg⋅m2.

Equation Symbols Meaning in words

α is angular Angular acceleration is
acceleration, τnet is the proportional to net torque and
net torque, and II is the inversely proportional to
α=I τnet rotational inertia rotational inertia.
ANALYSING ROTATIONAL INERTIA

Rotational inertia depends both on an object’s mass and how the mass is
distributed relative to the axis of rotation. When a mass moves further from
the axis of rotation it becomes more difficult to change the rotational velocity
of the system. For e.g. if we compare the rotational inertia for a hoop and a
disc, both with the same mass and radius, the hoop will have a higher
rotational inertia because the mass is distributed farther away from the axis of
rotation.

How does rotational inertia relate to Newton’s second law?

Newton’s 2nd law relates force to acceleration. In the angular version of
Newton’s 2nd law, torque τ takes the place of force and rotational inertia takes
the place of mass. When the rotational inertia of an object is constant, the
angular acceleration is proportional to torque.

For example, if we attach a rotating disc to a massless rope and then pull on
the rope with constant force, we can see that the angular acceleration of the
cylinder will increase as the force (and the torque) increases. A graph of the
angular acceleration vs. torque would have a positive and constant slope
because angular acceleration α is directly proportional to torque.

Fnet τnet = ma = Iα
 COMMON MISTAKES AND MISCONCEPTIONS

1. People sometimes forget that angular acceleration can be zero. If the torques
on an object cancel out, the net torque is zero and the angular acceleration is
also zero. For example, a beam that can rotate about its axis has two forces
exerted on it and therefore two torques. Since the torques are in opposite
directions, the net torque is zero and the beam will not rotate.

A birds-eye view of a horizontal beam parallel to the ground that can rotate about its
central axis, with two forces exerted on it.

2. Another common misconception is that the torques only sum to zero about
the fulcrum. For an object in equilibrium, the torques sum to zero about any
axis.

KINEMATICS OF ROTATIONAL MOTION ABOUT A FIXED AXIS

• We can derive equation of motion similar to translational motion:

ANALOGY BETWEEN LINEAR MOTION AND ROTATIONAL MOTION

ROLLING MOTION

• Rolling motion is a combination of rotation and translation.

 • All the particles on a rolling body have two kinds of velocity
1. Translational, which is velocity of COM.
2. Linear velocity on account of rotational motion.

• Here in the figure we can see that every point have two velocities, one in
the direction of velocity of COM and other perpendicular to the line joining
centre and the point.
• Point Po have opposite velocities, and if condition of no-slipping is there
then it must have zero velocity, so Vcom = ω R
• At point P1 both the velocities add up.
• At any other point, add both the velocities vectorially to get the resultant,
which are shown for some of the cases in red colour in figure.
• The line passing through PO and parallel to w is called the instantaneous
axis of rotation.
• The point PO is instantaneously at rest.
• Kinetic Energy of Rolling Motion
• KErolling = KEtranslation + KErotation