Moment of Inertia

Moment of inertia, I is defined as the ratio of an applied torque to the angular acceleration along a principal axis of the object.  The term moment of inertia is introduced by Swiss Mathematician and physicist Leonhard Euler in 1730 through the book titled,  Theoria Motus Corporum Solidorum Seu Rigidorum or Theory of the Motion of Solid or Rigid Bodies. Formula of moment of inertia is depends on the object’s shape. The common formula for moment of inertia is given by the formula I = k m r2, in which I equals the moment of inertia, k equals the inertial constant that depends on the shape of the object, m equals mass, and r equals the distance between the axis and rotational mass. . It is used to determine the torque needed for a desired angular acceleration about axis of rotation. As moment of inertiadepends on the amount and distribution of its mass, it also can be found through sum of moments of inertia of the masses making up the whole object. In this experiment we study about the moment of inertia of flywheel. Flywheel is a revolving mechanical device. It is used store rotational energy. As energy is transferred to a flywheel by applying torque, its rotational speed increase, store energy increase. After the flywheel is stored with energy, the energy is released by applying torque to the load.

        In this experiment, several setting is used to setup the experiment. The flywheel is fixed by G- clamp to avoid the flywheel fall into the ground. Soft board is used to absorb the impact when the slotted masses hit the ground. Beside that, the result is converted to SI unit before recorded in the table because it is involve in calculation. There are some rationales too, when winding up the slotted masses, no additional force is applied so that the slotted masses will accelerate when the slotted masses is allowed to drop. The flywheel will accelerate too and a torque is produced.