Prelab: Rotation

Name: Date:
Group members: Instructor:

1. Give the moment of inertia of a uniform annular disk of mass M with inner radius
R1 and outer radius R2 that is rotating about its central axis. (3 pts.)

2. A uniform disk with moment of inertia at the center of mass, I1 , is rotating with an
initial angular speed ω1 about a frictionless shaft through its center. Another disk
of moment of inertia at the center of mass, I2 , is dropped from rest on top of the
first disk through the same shaft. Give the angular speed of the composite two-disk
system assuming that the collision is perfectly inelastic. (7 pts.)

Prelab: Rotation 1
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 EXPERIMENT
Rotation

Objectives

By the end of the experiment, the students should be able to:

• verify the conservation of energy and angular momentum for a system of disks
rotating about the central axis.

• calculate the net torque, kinetic energy, angular momentum, and the work done by
friction for a disk that is rotating about its central axis.

Introduction

Rotations play an important part in understanding the behaviour of a rotating wheel, a

spinning top, and the motion of the planets around the solar system. The concepts of
conservation of energy and angular momentum simplify the analysis of problems where
rotations are involved. In this experiment, the students will verify the conservation of
energy and angular momentum for a disk that is rotating about its central axis. Along
the way, the students will learn how to calculate the net torque, kinetic energy, and the
work done by friction. Also, conservation of angular momentum will be tested for the
perfectly inelastic collision of a system of disks.

Single disk rotating about its central axis

Consider a uniform disk that is rotating about its central axis as shown in 1. The friction
between the disk and the shaft is causing heating, thus, slowing down the rotation of the
disk until it stops.

Figure 1: A disk that is rotating with an angular speed ω about its central axis

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Torque
The torque ~τ is the tendency of a force to rotate an object about some axis. By definition,

~τ = ~r × F~ (1)

where F~ is the applied force and ~r is the displacement vector from the axis (pivot) to the
point where the force is applied. The net torque that is experienced by an object causes
an angular acceleration α~ that is defined through Newton’s second law for rotations:
X
~τ = I~
α. (2)

In equation 2, I is known as the moment of inertia about the axis of rotation.

For a uniform annular disk with mass M , inner radius R1 , and outer radius R2 that
is rotating about its central axis, the moment of inertia is given by
1
Idisk = M R12 + R22 .


(3)
2
The net torque on the rotating disk is therefore the product of equation 3 and the angular
acceleration.

Conservation of energy
The total energy of the system is the sum of the mechanical energy and the internal
energy. The mechanical energy is defined as the sum of the kinetic and the potential
energy. For a disk that is rotating at a constant height, the change in mechanical energy
is due in part only to the change in the kinetic energy of the system:
1
∆Emech = ∆KE = Idisk (ωf2 − ωi2 ). (4)
2
In equation 4, ωi and ωf are the initial and final angular velocities, respectively.
The work done by friction on the disk increases the total internal energy of the system.
Using equation 1, the torque applied by friction which is tangent to the inner radius R1
is given by τ = f R1 where f is the magnitude of friction. Under the constant friction
assumption, the work done by friction can be written as

Wfriction = −f R1 |∆θ| = −τ |∆θ| (5)

where ∆θ is the angular displacement of the disk.

The change in total energy is the sum of the changes in the mechanical energy and
the internal energy. If the there are no external forces acting on the system, then the
total energy must be conserved:

∆E = ∆Emech − Wfriction = 0. (6)

Perfectly inelastic collision of disks

Consider a first disk that is rotating about its central axis. A second disk is released from
rest on top of the first disk (Figure 2) and collides with the first disk, thus, making a
composite two-disk system that is rotating with some angular velocity.

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Physics 71.1 1st Sem, A.Y. 2019–2020

Figure 2: Another disk is dropped from rest onto a disk that is rotating about the central
axis

~ for a system of rotating disks is defined as

The total angular momentum L
X
~ =
L I~ωi (7)
i

where ω~ i is the angular momentum for each disk. When a net torque is applied for a time
interval ∆t, the rotational impulse J~ experienced by the system is given by
X
J~ = ~τi ∆t. (8)
i

When the net torque is zero, then the rotational impulse-angular momentum theorem

J~ = ∆L
~ (9)

~ = 0).
suggests that the angular momentum is conserved (∆L

Materials

The experiment requires the use of the following equipment:

• Vernier LabQuest

• Vernier rotary motion sensor

• 3 disks

• Ruler

• Digital weighing scale

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Procedure

Calculation of the moment of inertia of the disks

1. Measure the inner radius R1 and outer radius R2 of each of the disks using a ruler
and record in Table W1.

2. Measure the mass of each of the disks and record in Table W1.

3. Calculate the moment of inertia for each disk using equation 3 and complete Table
W1.

Verification of the conservation of energy

1. Connect the Vernier rotary motion sensor to the LabQuest.

2. Attach disk 1 to the rotary motion sensor and tighten the screws as shown in Figure
1.

3. Start the data collection by pressing the Collect button on the LabQuest and give
the disk a spin.

4. Select a part of the graph where the angular velocity vs time is linear. Take note
of the times ti and tf , the angular positions θi and θf , and the angular speeds ωi
and ωf and complete Table W2.

5. Complete Table W3 using the data from Table W2.

6. Calculate the change in mechanical energy, the work due to friction, and the relative
deviation |(∆Emech − Wfriction )/∆Emech |. Complete Table W4.

Verification of the conservation of angular momentum

Case 1
1. See Figure 2 for an illustration of Case 1.

2. Record the moment of inertia of disk 1 as Ia and the moment of inertia of disk 2 as
Ib in Table W5.

3. Attach disk 1 to the rotary motion sensor.

4. Start data collection and give disk 1 a spin.

5. Drop disk 2 from an arbitrary height onto disk 1 and observe the sharp change in
the θ − t and ω − t graphs.

6. Take note of the angular velocity just before the collision and record this as ωa,i in
Table W5.

7. Take note of the angular velocity right after the collision and record this as ωb,i in
Table W5.

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Physics 71.1 1st Sem, A.Y. 2019–2020

8. Calculate the initial angular momentum Li , the final angular momentum Lf , and
the relative deviation |(Li − Lf )/Li | and complete Table W5.

Case 2
For case 2, the rotating disk 1 in case 1 is replaced by a rotating disk 1-disk 2 system
(disk 2 mounted on top of disk 1).

1. The moment of inertia of the disk 1-disk 2 system is the sum of the moment of
inertia of disk 1 and disk 2. Record this as Ia in Table W5.

2. Record the moment of inertia of disk 3 as Ib in Table W5.

3. Attach disk 1-disk 2 system to the rotary motion sensor.

4. Start data collection and give system a spin.

5. Drop disk 3 from an arbitrary height onto the rotating disk 1-disk 2 system and
observe the sharp change in the θ − t and ω − t graphs.

6. Take note of the angular velocity just before the collision and record this as ωa,i in
Table W5.

7. Take note of the angular velocity right after the collision and record this as ωb,f in
Table W5.

8. Calculate the initial angular momentum Li , the final angular momentum Lf , and
the relative deviation |(Li − Lf )/Li | and complete Table W5.

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Physics 71.1 1st Sem, A.Y. 2019–2020

Name: Date:
Group members: Instructor:

Data Sheet

Moment of inertia of the disks

Table W1: Calculation of the moment of inertia of the disks

disk inner radius (m) outer radius (m) mass (g) Icm (kg·m2 )
1
2
3

Calculation of the net torque

Table W2: Data for calculating the net torque on disk 1

Trial ti (s) θi (rad) ωi (rad/s) tf (s) θf (rad) ωf (rad/s)

1
2
3

Table W3: Calculation of the net torque on disk 1

Trial ∆ω (rad/s) ∆t (s) α (rad/s2 ) τ (N·m)

1
2
3

Verification of conservation of energy

Table W4: Data for verification of conservation of energy

Trial Ki (J) Kf (J) ∆Emech (J) Wfriction (J) % Error

1
2
3
Average relative deviation

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Verification of conservation of angular momentum

Table W5: Data for verification of conservation of angular momentum

Case Ia (kg·m2 ) Ib (kg·m2 ) ωa,i (rad/s) ωb,f (rad/s) Li (kg·rad·m2 /s) Lf (kg·rad·m2 /s) % Error
1
2

Questions

Answer the following questions in no more than two sentences.

1. Is the total energy of the rotating disk conserved in the experiment? Justify your
answer using the data.

2. What are the possible sources of errors which might have caused deviation from the
principle of conservation of energy and angular momentum? Cite at least two.

3. In the collision of disks, the system is not isolated because of existence of friction.
How is it possible that conservation of angular momentum is still valid to a relatively
good accuracy?

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