Moment of Inertia VideoLab

The object of this experiment is to determine the moment of inertia of a rotating bicycle wheel. Moment of inertia is the rotational equivalent of mass in linear motion. A thin cord is wound around the cylindrical hub attached to a bicycle wheel and is used to suspend a mass which rotates the wheel with constant angular acceleration.

Run the movie to observe the motion. Click on the link below to go to the lab. Make a table showing the mass and the acceleration for each case. In the same table give the angular acceleration and the net torque for each mass. Graph torque versus angular acceleration and fit these values with a straight line. Use the slope of this line to find the Moment of Inertia

Compare your result to an estimate of the moment of inertia based on the mass and the radius of the wheel. Mass is (2.0±.1) kg. Radius is (32±1) cm. Note that the hub has a radius of 1.9 ±.1 cm.

Give an explanation of how you determined both the angular acceleration and torque. Provide a concise conclusion to the experiment as well as a brief discussion of at least one other concept from rotational dynamics that could be measured in this experiment.