2nd Lecture

Applied Physics (Mechanics) (1st Semester)

BSc Mechanical Engineering Technology
SUIT Peshawar

The moment of inertia

The moment of inertia of an object is a numerical value that can be calculated for any rigid body
that is undergoing a physical rotation around a fixed axis. It is based not only on the physical shape
of the object and its distribution of mass but also the specific configuration of how the object is
rotating. So, the same object rotating in different ways would have a different moment of inertia
in each situation.

The general formula represents the most basic conceptual understanding of the moment of inertia.
Basically, for any rotating object, the moment of inertia can be calculated by taking the distance
of each particle from the axis of rotation (r in the equation), squaring that value (that's the r2 term),
and multiplying it times the mass of that particle. You do this for all of the particles that make up
the rotating object and then add those values together, and that gives the moment of inertia.

The consequence of this formula is that the same object gets a different moment of inertia value,
depending on how it is rotating. A new axis of rotation ends up with a different formula, even if
the physical shape of the object remains the same.

This formula is the most "brute force" approach to calculating the moment of inertia. The other
formulas provided are usually more useful and represent the most common situations that
physicists run into.

How does rotational inertia relate to Newton's 2ⁿᵈ law?

Rotational inertia takes the place of mass in the rotational version of Newton's 2ⁿᵈ law.

Consider a mass mmm attached to one end of a massless rod. The other end of the rod is hinged
so that the system can rotate about the central hinge point as shown in Figure 2.
 2nd Lecture
Applied Physics (Mechanics) (1st Semester)
BSc Mechanical Engineering Technology
SUIT Peshawar

We now start rotating the system by applying a tangential force FT the mass. From Newton’s 2ⁿᵈ
law,

this can also be written as

Newton's 2ⁿᵈ law relates force to acceleration. In rotational mechanics torque (tau) τ takes the place
of force. Multiplying both sides by the radius gives the expression we want.

This expression can now be used to find the behavior of a mass in response to a known torque.

How can we calculate rotational inertia in general?

Often mechanical systems are made of many masses connected together, or complex shapes.
 2nd Lecture
Applied Physics (Mechanics) (1st Semester)
BSc Mechanical Engineering Technology
SUIT Peshawar

It is possible to calculate the total rotational inertia for any shape about any axis by summing the
rotational inertia of each mass.

Example # 01:

Consider the object shown in figure 3(a). What is its rotational inertia?

Example # 02:

Consider the alternate case of Figure 3(b) of the same system rotating about a different axis. What
would you expect the rotational inertia to be in this case?
 2nd Lecture
Applied Physics (Mechanics) (1st Semester)
BSc Mechanical Engineering Technology
SUIT Peshawar

Although the system of masses is the same as before, they are now rotating about a much closer
axis. Because of the dependence on the square of the distance to the rotational axis, we would
expect the rotational inertia to be significantly lower.