Moment of Inertia

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Moment of Inertia Abstract: The purpose of this experiment is to analyze and observe the moment of inertia of a ring, disk, and shaft system. We are conducting this experiment to see whether the moment of inertia is just the sum of the individual moments of inertia of the ring, disk, and shaft system, respectively. The method in which we will obtain data and findings through the experiment is by using a rotational apparatus with a smart pulley system attached to a step pulley and a ring. During the experiment, we manipulated the masses of the hanger to see the effects on the two systems: one with just the disk and shaft, and the other system with the disk, the shaft, and the ring. As a result, we can calculate the angular velocity of the system, and then subsequently calculate the torque. If the torque is plotted against the angular velocity, and by taking the slope of the tangent line, we can deduce what the moment of inertia is for the system. We concluded that the respective moments of inertia for each of the parts of the system summed would lead to the actual moment of inertia for the whole system. We found this by finding the moment of inertia for each part of the system. Procedure: 1) We first determined what the best position of the pulley would be with respect to the rotating table. 2) We then found a length of string and a mass that we figured would give us the best possible results and. 3) We also thought that since the point of attachment is the string, it is especially important to think about how long the string is to see good results. 4) We then decided the best height to release the hanger and give us the best results. 5) We then ran 10 trials with increasing masses of the hanger, and then added the disk to the system to see how that would affect the angular acceleration of the system, which in turn would later help us find the

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