Q3. The moment of inertia of solid sphere is 15 kg m2.
What will be the moment of inertia
of a thin spherical shell having the same mass and radius as that of the solid sphere?
Answer: Moment of inertia of solid sphere,
Moment of inertia of thin spherical shell,
Q4. Mass per unit area of a circular disc of radius a depends on the distance r from its
centre, as . Find the moment of inertia of the disc about the axis,
perpendicular to the plane and passing through its centre.
Answer: Given,
Mass per unit area of circular disc,
Consider a small elemental ring of thickness dr at a distance r from the centre,
The moment of inertia of the ring about an axis, perpendicular to the plane and passing through
its centre, is given by,
Q5. What is the ratio of moment of inertia of a hollow cylinder and solid cylinder having
same mass and radius?
Answer:
Practice problems
Q.6 A hollow cubical box is having mass M and side a. What will be the moment of inertia
of the box about an axis passing through the centres of two opposite faces?
[Link] hollow cubical box can be assumed to be an arrangement of 6 identical square
plates each having mass m and side a
Assume each plate of mass m.
Hence M=6m
Moment of inertia of square plate (perpendicular to its plane) about axis through COM is
ma26
Axis of rotation passes through the centre of mass of two square plates (1) and (2) facing
opposite to each other.
Therefore,
I2=I1=ma2/6 ............(1)
MOI of a square plate about axis passing through COM and parallel to its plane is
I=ma2/12
and the remaining 4 plates have a distance of a2 from the cube axis.
MOI of plate (3), (4), (5) and (6) about cube axis by parallel axis theorem is
I3=I4=I5=I6=ma2/12+m(a2)/2=ma2/3
Therefore, total MOI about cube axis is
I=I1+I2+I3+I4+I5+I6
I=2I1+4I3
I=2 ×ma2/6+4×ma2/3=5ma23
Here, m=M6
Hence, I=5Ma218
Practice problems
Q1. Two discs, one with radius r and mass m, and the other with radius 2r and mass 2m,
are placed together and mounted on a frictionless axis through their common centre.
Find the net moment of inertia of the system.
Answer: In this problem, the two discs have the same axis of rotation. Two moments of inertia
can be added to get the moment of inertia of the system.
The moment of inertia of a disc about the axis of rotation passing through its COM and
perpendicular to its plane is given as follows:
Q2. Find the moment of inertia of a square lamina about an axis passing through one of
its sides.
Answer: The formula for the MOI of the square lamina of mass m and side length l rotating
about an axis passing through its centre is given by the following:
Consider three squares of the same size and mass placed along this square. We will get a large
square whose axis of rotation coincides with the axis of rotation of this square.
Consider the MOI for the large square as I',