Chapter 1

Rotation of an Object About a Fixed

Axis

1.1 The Important Stuff

1.1.1 Rigid Bodies; Rotation
So far in our study of physics we have (with few exceptions) dealt with particles, objects
whose spatial dimensions were unimportant for the questions we were asking. We now deal
with the (elementary!) aspects of the motion of extended objects, objects whose dimensions
are important.
The objects that we deal with are those which maintain a rigid shape (the mass points
maintain their relative positions) but which can change their orientation in space. They
can have translational motion, in which their center of mass moves but also rotational
motion, in which we can observe the changes in direction of a set of axes that is “glued to”
the object. Such an object is known as a rigid body. We need only a small set of angles
to describe the rotation of a rigid body. Still, the general motion of such an object can be
quite complicated.
Since this is such a complicated subject, we specialize further to the case where a line
of points of the object is fixed and the object spins about a rotation axis fixed in space.
When this happens, every individual point of the object will have a circular path, although
the radius of that circle will depend on which mass point we are talking about. And the
orientation of the object is completely specified by one variable, an angle θ which we can
take to be the angle between some reference line “painted” on the object and the x axis
(measured counter-clockwise, as usual).
Because of the nice mathematical properties of expressing the measure of an angle in
radians, we will usually express angles in radians all through our study of rotations; on
occasion, though, we may have to convert to or from degrees or revolutions. Revolutions,
degrees and radians are related by:

1 revolution = 360 degrees = 2π radians

1
2 CHAPTER 1. ROTATION OF AN OBJECT ABOUT A FIXED AXIS

! "
!

Figure 1.1: A point on the rotating object is located a distance r from the axis; as the object
rotates through an angle θ it moves a distance s.

[Later, because of its importance, we will deal with the motion of a (round) object which
rolls along a surface without slipping. This motion involves rotation and translation, but it
is not much more complicated than rotation about a fixed axis.]

1.1.2 Angular Displacement

As a rotating object moves through an angle θ from the starting position, a mass point on
the object at radius r will move a distance s; s length of arc of a circle of radius r, subtended
by the angle θ.
When θ is in radians, these are related by
s
θ= θ in radians (1.1)
r
If we think about the consistency of the units in this equation, we see that since s and
r both have units of length, θ is really dimensionless; but since we are assuming radian
measure, we will often write “rad” next to our angles to keep this in mind.

1.1.3 Angular Velocity

The angular position of a rotating changes with time; as with linear motion, we study the
rate of change of θ with time t. If in a time period ∆t the object has rotated through an
angular displacement ∆θ then we define the average angular velocity for that period as
∆θ
ω= (1.2)
∆t
A more interesting quantity is found as we let the time period ∆t be vanishingly small.
This gives us the instantaneous angular velocity, ω:
∆θ dθ
ω = lim = (1.3)
∆t→0 ∆t dt
rad 1
Angular velocity has units of s
, or equivalently, s
or s−1 .
1.1. THE IMPORTANT STUFF 3

In more advanced studies of rotational motion, the angular velocity of a rotating object
is defined in such a way that it is a vector quantity. For an object rotating counterclockwise
about a fixed axis, this vector has magnitude ω and points outward along the axis of rotation.
For our purposes, though, we will treat ω as a number which can be positive or negative,
depending on the direction of rotation.

1.1.4 Angular Acceleration; Constant Angular Acceleration

The rate at which the angular velocity changes is the angular acceleration of the object. If
the object’s (instantaneous) angular velocity changes by ∆ω within a time period ∆t, then
the average angular acceleration for this period is
∆ω
α= (1.4)
∆t
But as you might expect, much more interesting is the instantaneous angular accelera-
tion, defined as
∆ω dω
α = lim = (1.5)
∆t→0 ∆t dt
We can derive simple equations for rotational motion if we know that α is constant.
(Later we will see that this happens if the “torque” on the object is constant.) Then, if θ0
is the initial angular displacement, ω0 is the initial angular velocity and α is the constant
angular acceleration, then we find:

ω = ω0 + αt (1.6)
θ = θ0 + ω0 t + 12 αt2 (1.7)
ω2 = ω02 + 2α(θ − θ0) (1.8)
θ = θ0 + 12 (ω0 + ω)t (1.9)

where θ and ω are the angular displacements and velocity at time t. θ0 and ω0 are the values
of the angle and angular velocity at t = 0.
These equations have exactly the same form as the equations for one–dimensional linear
motion given in Chapter 2 of Vol. 1. The correspondences of the variables are:

x↔θ v↔ω a↔α.

It is almost always simplest to set θ0 = 0 in these equations, so you will often see
Eqs. 1.6—1.9 written with this substitution already made.

1.1.5 Relationship Between Angular and Linear Quantities

As we wrote in Eq. 1.1, when a rotating object has an angular displacement ∆θ, then a point
on the object at a radius r travels a distance s = rθ. This is a relation between the angular
motion of the point and the “linear” motion of the point (though here “linear” is a bit of a
misnomer because the point has a circular path). The distance of the point from the axis
4 CHAPTER 1. ROTATION OF AN OBJECT ABOUT A FIXED AXIS

does not change, so taking the time derivative of this relation give the instantaneous speed
of the particle as:
ds dθ
v= = r = rω (1.10)
dt dt
which we similarly call the point’s linear speed (or, tangential speed), vT ) to distinguish
it from the angular speed. Note, all points on the rotating object have the same angular
speed but their linear speeds depend on their distances from the axis.
Similarly, the time derivative of the Eq. 1.10 gives the linear acceleration of the point:

dv dω
aT = =r = rα (1.11)
dt dt

Here it is essential to distinguish the tangential acceleration from the centripetal acceleration
that we recall from our study of uniform circular motion. It is still true that a point on the
wheel at radius r will have a centripetal acceleration given by:

v2 (rω)2
ac = = = rω 2 (1.12)
r r

These two components specify the acceleration vector of a point on a rotating object. (Of
course, if α is zero, then aT = 0 and there is only a centripetal component.)

1.1.6 Rotational Kinetic Energy

Because a rotating object is made of many mass points in motion, it has kinetic energy; but
since each mass point has a different speed v our formula from translational particle motion,
K = 21 mv 2 no longer applies. If we label the mass points of the rotating object as mi, having
individual (different!) linear speeds vi , then the total kinetic energy of the rotating object is

1
m v2 1
mi vi2
! !
Krot = 2 i i
= 2
i I

If ri is the distance of the ith mass point form the axis, then vi = ri ω and we then have:
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2
1 1
(miri2 )ω 2 1
mi ri2 ω2 .
! ! !
Krot = 2
mi(ri ω) = 2
= 2
i i i

The sum i mi ri2 is called the moment of inertia for the rotating object (which we discuss
$

further in the next section), and usually denoted I. (It is also called the rotational inertia
in some books.) It has units of kg · m2 in the SI system. With this simplification, our last
equation becomes
Krot = 21 Iω 2 (1.13)
1.1. THE IMPORTANT STUFF 5

1.1.7 The Moment of Inertia; The Parallel Axis Theorem

For a rotating object composed of many mass points, the moment of inertia I is given by

miri2
!
I= (1.14)
i

I has units of kg · m2 in the SI system, and as we use it in elementary physics, it is a scalar

1
(i.e. a single number which in fact is always positive). More frequently we deal with a
rotating object which is a continuous distribution of mass, and for this case we have the
more general expression %
I= r2 dm (1.15)

Here, the integral is performed over the volume of the object and at each point we evaluate
r2 , where r is the distance measured perpendicularly from the rotation axis.
The evaluation of this integral for various of cases of interest is a common exercise in
multi-variable calculus. In most of our problems we will only be using a few basic geometrical
shapes, and the moments of inertia for these are given in Figure 1.2 and in Figure 1.3.
Suppose the moment of inertia for an object of mass M with the rotation axis passing
through the center of mass is ICM . Now suppose we displace the axis parallel to itself by a
distance D. This situation is shown in Fig. 1.4. The moment of inertia of the object about
the new axis will have a new value I, given by

I = ICM + MD2 (1.16)

Eq. 1.16 is known as the Parallel Axis Theorem and is sometimes handy for computing
moments of inertia if we already have a listing for a moment of inertia through the object’s
center of mass.

1.1.8 Torque
We can impart an acceleration to a rotating object by exerting a force on it at a particular
point. But it turns out that the force is not the simplest quantity to use in studying rotations;
rather it is the torque imparted by the force.
Suppose the force F (whose direction lies in the plane of rotation) is applied at a point
r (relative to the rotation axis which is at the origin O). Suppose that the (smallest) angle
between r and F is φ. Then the magnitude of the torque exerted on the object by this force
is
|τ | = rF sin φ (1.17)
By some very simple regrouping, this equation can be written as

τ = r(F sin φ) = rFt

1
In advanced mechanics it is treated as a matrix , but we don’t need to make things that complicated!
6 CHAPTER 1. ROTATION OF AN OBJECT ABOUT A FIXED AXIS

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Figure 1.2: Formulae for the moment of inertia I for simple shapes about the axes, as shown. In each case,
the mass of the object is M . (a) Hoop about symmetry axis. (b) Annular cylinder about symmetry axis. (c)
Solid cylinder (disk) about symmetry axis. (d) Solid cylinder (disk) about axis through CM, perpendicular
to symmetry axis. (e) Thin rod about axis through CM, perpendicular to length. (f) Thin rod about axis
through one end, perpendicular to length.
1.1. THE IMPORTANT STUFF 7

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Figure 1.3: More formulae for moment of inertia I for simple shapes about the axes, as shown. (a) Solid
sphere; axis is through a diameter. (b) Spherical shell; axis is through a diameter. (c) Hoop; axis is through
a diameter. (d) Rectangular slab; axis is perpendicular, through the center.

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Figure 1.4: (a) Moment of inertia about an axis through the center of mass of an object is ICM . (b) We
displace the axis so that it is parallel and a distance D away. New moment of inertia is given by the Parallel
Axis Theorem. This object looks like some kind of potato, but the theorem will work for any vegetable.
8 CHAPTER 1. ROTATION OF AN OBJECT ABOUT A FIXED AXIS

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Figure 1.5: (a) Rigid body rotates about point O. A force F is exerted at point P . (b) Torque τ can be
viewed as the product of the distance r and the tangential component of the force, Ft . (c) Torque τ can also
be viewed as the product of the force F and the distance r⊥ (often called the moment arm, or lever arm).

where Ft = F sin φ is the component of the force perpendicular to r, or as

τ = (r sin φ)F = r⊥ F

where r⊥ = r sin φ is the distance between the axis and the line which we get by “extending”
the force vector into a line often called the line of action. The distance r⊥ is called the
moment arm of the force F. These different ways of thinking about the terms in Eq. 1.17
are illustrated in Fig. 1.5.
Formula 1.17 gives us the magnitude of the torque; strictly speaking, torque is a vector
and in more advanced studies of rotations, it must be treated as such. The (vector) torque
due a force F is defined as
τ = r×F
so we see that Eq. 1.17 gives the magnitude of this vector . For now we will treat torque as
a number which is positive if the force gives a counterclockwise rotation and negative if the
force gives a clockwise rotation. What we are calling τ here is really the component of the
torque vector along the rotation axis.
To repeat, τ is positive or negative depending on whether the rotation which the force
(acting alone) induces is counter-clockwise or clockwise. (However — on occasion we may
want to choose the other convention.)
When a number of individual forces act on a rotating object, we can compute the net
torque: !
τnet = τi

1.1.9 Torque and Angular Acceleration (Newton’s Second Law for

Rotations)
The angular acceleration of a rotating object is proportional to the net torque on the object;
they are related by:
τnet = Iα (1.18)
1.1. THE IMPORTANT STUFF 9

Linear Quantity Angular Quantity

x θ
v ω
a α
m I
F τ
p L

Table 1.1: Correspondences between linear and angular quantities

where I is the moment of inertia of the object.

This equation looks a lot like Newton’s Second Law for one–dimensional motion, Fx =
max.

1.1.10 Work, Energy and Power in Rotational Motion

As with the (abbreviated) formula for the work done by a force for a small displacement,
linear motion, W = Fxdx, we have a formula for the work done by a torque for a small
angular displacement dθ:
W = τ dθ
For a finite angular displacement from θi to θf , the work done is
% θf
W = τ dθ
θi

1.1.11 The New Equations Look Like the Old Equations

Although the rotational motion we have begun to study in this chapter is really quite a
different thing from the linear motion we have studied up to now, it is of great help in
using (or at least remembering) the equations by drawing correspondences between the new
rotational quantities and the old linear quantities. These are summarized in Table 1.1. For
completeness, we include the quantity angular momentum, L, which will be discussed in the
next chapter.
The basic relations between the old linear quantities and the corresponding relations
between the new angular quantities are summarized in Table 1.2. Of course, the first three
pairs of equations deal with the special case of constant linear or angular acceleration.

A few pointers for solving problems which involve rotations:

• The objects which rotate are (obviously) all extended objects, that is, they have dimensions
(width, height. . . ) which can’t be ignored. In some problems the center of mass of the rigid
body does move and we may need to understand how the gravitational potential energy of
the object changes. The basic answer is that we compute the gravitational potential energy
by treating all the mass of the object as being located at its center of mass.
10 CHAPTER 1. ROTATION OF AN OBJECT ABOUT A FIXED AXIS

Linear Relation Angular Relation

v = v0 + at ω = ω0 + αt
x = x0 + v0 t + 12 at2 θ = θ0 + ω0 t + 12 αt2
v 2 = v02 + 2a(x − x0 ) ω 2 = ω02 + 2α(θ − θ0)
K = 12 mv 2 K = 12 Iω 2
F = ma τ = Iα
p = mv L = Iω

Table 1.2: Correspondences between basic equations for linear and angular motion.

• Some problems involve a pulley which turns because a string is tightly wrapped around it
or because a string passes over the pulley and does not slip against it. In those cases the
string exerts a force on the pulley which is tangential, and we use this fact in computing the
torque on the pulley. But see the next point. . .
• When a string does pass over a real pulley (i.e. it has mass even though we might still
ignore friction in the bearings) and exerts forces on the pulley, the string tension will not be
the same on both sides of the place where it is in contact. This differs from the problems in
the chapter on forces where pulleys were involved; there, we used the idealization of massless
pulleys, and the tension was the same on both sides.

1.2 Worked Examples

1.2.1 Angular Displacement

1. (a) What angle in radians is subtended by an arc that has length 1.80 m and is
part of a circle of radius 1.20 m? (b) Express the same angle in degrees. (c) The
angle between two radii of a circle is 0.620 rad. What arc length is subtended if
the radius is 2.40 m? [HRW5 11-1]
(a) Eq. 1.1 relates arclength, radius and subtended angle. We find:
s 1.80 m
θ= = = 1.50 rad
r 1.20 m
The subtended angle is 1.50 radians.
(b) To express this angle in degrees use the relation: 360 deg = 2π rad (or, 180 deg = π rad).
Then we have: " #
180 deg
1.50 rad = (1.50 rad) = 85.9◦
π rad
(c) We can find the arc length subtended by an angle θ by the relation: s = θr. Then for
an angle of 0.620 rad and radius 2.40 m, the arclength is
s = θr = (0.620)(2.40 m) = 1.49 m .