AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY–BANGLADESH (AIUB)

FACULTY OF SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
PHYSICS LAB 1
Section-B4 Group-06

LAB REPORT ON
“To determine the moment of inertia of a flywheel about its axis of rotation”

Supervised By
MD. SAIFUL ISLAM
Senior Assistant Professor

Submitted By
SN Name ID Contribution

1 SHADAT AHMED SHOVON 23-50196-1 Theory

2 KAWSAR HABIB 23-50207-1 Apparatus, Experimental

Data
3 B. M. INTISAR TANJIM 23-50210-1 Procedure

4 MD. RAHAT HASAN ROSE 23-50216-1 Analysis and

Calculation, Result
5 AKIBUL HASAN ANIK 23-50235-1 Objective, Discussion
 Spring 2022-23
Date of Submission: March 1, 2023

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TOPICS Page
no.

I. Title Page 1

II. Table of Content 2

1. Objective 3

2. Theory 3

3. Apparatus 4

4. Procedure 4

5. Experimental Data 6

6. Analysis and Calculation 6

7. Result 7

8. Discussion 8

9. References 8

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 1. Objective

2. Theory
The term rotational inertia refers to the moment of inertia, which is the rotating equivalent of
mass for linear motion. It is necessary to provide the object's moment of inertia around the
chosen rotational axis.
The flywheel is supported by a substantially circular disc that serves as the passive wheel,
and robust axles protrude from each side of it. As seen in Fig-1, one end of a cable is used to
suspend the weight while the other is loosely coiled around the pole.

After that, we assume a few things. For both the hanging ring and the weight hanger, we shall use the
mass (M). It will be taller than (h). We now explore a situation in which the mass will sink to a lower
level. There will be a small loss of potential energy, and for this reason, the equation is written as:

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 3. Apparatus
 Flywheel
 Weigh hanger
 Slotted weights
 Stopwatch
 Meter scale

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 4. Procedure
 The string was initially carefully lengthened until the weight-hanger barely touched the
ground and the loop came loose from the peg.
 The weight hanger was filled with a weight of the proper size.
 The other end of the cord was loosely looped over the peg to maintain contact with the
ground, and a chalk mark was placed on the rim to line up with the pointer when the weight
hanger hit the ground. The cable was then wound around the axle without overlapping by
rotating the flywheel a predetermined number of times (n).
 The flywheel was turned enough times (n) to allow the cable to be wound around the axle
without overlapping.
 The weight hanger's height (h) above the ground was calculated.
 The flywheel was released, and it was observed that the weight hanger descended and the
flywheel rotated smoothly. At the point when the weight hanger had just touched the
ground, the cord slipped off from the peg, and by then, the flywheel had completed (N)
rotations.
 As the weight hanger landed, the stopwatch was immediately set to start, and the amount of
time it took for the flywheel to halt was calculated and noted as t seconds. The flywheel's
total number of spins (N) throughout that time period was recorded.
 By adjusting the values of M and N, the experiment was repeated.
 A vernier caliper was used to determine the axle's radius.
 Using the measured data, the supplied equation was used to determine the moment of inertia
of the specified flywheel.

5. Experimental Data
6. Table 4.1: Reading for n, N and t for different M and h.
Obs. Mass Height No of revolutions Time for N
No. Suspended above the rotations
M ground t
(kg) h n N (s)
(m)

1. 1.0 kg 71.6 9 31 18.37

2. 1.5 kg 55.1 8 42 20.20
3. 2.0 kg 53.1 7 53 21.66

Table 4.2: Reading for the radius of the axel of the flywheel.

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 Mean Mean
Obs. M.S.R. V.S.D. V.S.R. Diameter Diameter Radius
x a y = a.c d = x+y d r
No. (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm) (cm)

1. 2.3 cm 10 0.5 cm 2.8 cm

2. 2.4 cm 16 0.8 cm 3.2 cm 2.9 cm

1.45
3. 2.3 cm 8 0.4 cm 2.7 cm

Mean Radius of the Axel, r = 0.1155 m.

7. Analysis and Calculation

A. For Mass, M=1.0 kg:

Height, h = 0.715 cm
Radius of the Axel, r = 0.0145 m
No. of rotation, n = 9 and N=31, t = 18.37 s

Angular velocity, 𝜔 =
4 πN 4 × 3.1416 ×15
=
t 18 .37
=21.21 rads-1

( 2 -r ) = ( -0.01452)
NM 2 gh 2 31∗1 2∗9.8∗0.716
Moment Of Inertia, I1 =
N +n ω 31+ 9 21.21
2

=0.024 kgm2

B. For Mass, M = 1.5 kg:

Height, h = 0.715 cm
Radius of the Axel, r = 0.0145 m

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 No. of rotation, n = 9 and N=31, t = 18.37 s

Angular velocity, 𝜔 =
4 πN 4 × 3.1416 ×15
=
t 18.37
=21.21 rads-1

( 2 -r ) = ( -0.01452 )
NM 2 gh 2 31∗1 2∗9.8∗0.716
Moment Of Inertia, I1 =
N +n ω 31+ 9 21.21
2

C. For Mass, M = 2.0 kg:

Height, h = 53 cm
Radius of the Axel, r = 0.1155 m No. of rotation, n = 7

and N = 27, t=12.10 s Angular Velocity, 𝜔 = 4πN =

4×3.1416×27
= 28.040 rads-1
t 12.10

Moment Of Inertia, I3 = NNM+n (2ωgh2 − r2)= 22 8+×221.5 (2(28×9.040.8×53)2

− (0.1155)2) kgm2

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 8. Result
(A brief result of the experiment should be written here)

9. Discussion
(Student may comment on his/her obtained result and conclude the report)

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 [Link]
(Student must include all the sources he/she has used in the report)

11. Appendices (if any)

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 (The following part is only to be followed in preparing the report)

Instructions
 The font is ‘Times new Roman’.

 The font size of all the titles are 16 down to 12, 16 being the main title, 14 subtitle,
and so on.

 The font size of all the text must be 11 and all text should be justified.

 From the ParagraphIndents & Spacing tab.

o Line spacing1.5 lines.

o SpacingBefore and After both will be 6 pt.

o Check √the box ‘Don’t add space between paragraphs of the same style’.

 All the gaps between the paragraphs, titles, etc. should be same.

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