Rotational Inertia

The purpose of this experiment is to find the rotational inertia of a ring and a disk experimentally and to verify that these values correspond to the calculated theoretical values.

A known torque is applied to the pulley on the Rotary Motion Sensor, causing a disk and ring to rotate. The resulting angular acceleration is measured using the slope of a graph of angular velocity versus time. The rotational inertia of the disk and ring combination is calculated from the torque and the angular acceleration. The procedure is repeated for the disk alone to find the rotational inertias of the ring and disk separately.

Grade Level: CollegeHigh School

Subject: Physics

Student Files

Rotational Inertia 31.20 MB
Rotational Inertia 6.44 MB
Rotational Inertia 379.46 KB

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550 Universal Interface

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PASPORT Rotary Motion Sensor

PASPORT Rotary Motion Sensor

The PASPORT Rotary Motion Sensor measures angle, angular velocity, angular acceleration and linear position, velocity, and acceleration.

Rotational Inertia Accessory

Rotational Inertia Accessory

Add the Rotational Inertia Accessory to a PASCO Rotary Motion Sensor (PS-3220 or PS-2120) to study the rotational inertia of a disk, a steel ring, and point masses.

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