Moment of

Inertia

PHYSICS

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Moment of Inertia
What will be the analogous mass of mass in rotational motion?

To answer this lets first consider what will happen when a regular object is moving
under transitional motion. When an object is under translational motion its entire mass
will be moving with some speed along with all the particles inside whereas in case of
rotational motion the entire object is rotating about its axis which means each particle
of the body moves in a circle with different linear velocity. Hence from this we can say
that, considering normal mass for rotational motion won’t be acceptable.

To find the mass equivalent for rotational motion, we consider the system in which
body is under rotational motion and each particle of body is tracing circular path along
with the axis of rotation.

This means that each particle will have some translational or tangential velocity which
is given by v. The kinetic energy of such particle is given as
since v =ωr is the relation established earlier between linear and angular velocity

But we have many such particles, thus the total kinetic energy of the rotating body will
be individual sum of kinetic energy of all the particles.

here which when compared to translational kinetic energy system can be

said to be analogous to mass in rotational system.
That’s why we use the term known as moment of inertia I and it depends upon the sum
of mass of each particle and their distance from the axis of rotation, i.e.,

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Points to Remember
The moment of inertia of a body depend on
1) Mass of body
2) Size and shape of object
3) Distribution of mass about the axis of rotation
4) Position and orientation of the axis of rotation w.r.t the body.

Calculation of moment of inertia for a

continuous surface
If we assume that a body to be continuous, in that case we can use integration to
calculate moment of inertia for any such object and it can be expressed as

Here, let dm be small mass for such continuous surface and r be the distance between
this mass and its axis of rotation

System I Description

For a point mass the moment of inertia is just the

I = mr2
mass times the radius from the axis squared.

For a collection of point masses the moment of

inertia is just the sum for the masses.

For an object with an axis of symmetry, the

I = kmr2 moment of inertia is some fraction of that which it
would have if all the mass were at the radius r.

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Continuous mass distributions require an infinite

sum of all the point mass moment which make up
the whole. This is accomplished by an integration
over all the mass.

Radius of Gyration
 Radius of gyration about the axis of rotation is defi ned as the distance from
the axis of rotation to a point where the total mass of the body is supposed to
be concentrated, so that the moment of inertia about the axis may remain the
same.

 In simple terms, gyration is the distribution of the components of an object.

 It is denoted by K. In terms of radius of gyration, the moment of inertia of the body of

mass M is given as,

 Whereas the relation between radius of gyration K and radius from axis of rotation
ri is given as

 Unit of radius of Gyration is meter.

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Theorem of moment of Inertia

In rotation motion as mentioned earlier the moment inertia depends upon shape, size
of object and also its distribution of mass along its axis of rotation. Hence, moment of
inertia for different shapes would be different and depending upon its axis of rotation
the moment of inertia of an object will fluctuate.
Hence these two theorems are used to calculate the moment of inertia at its different
axis of rotation.

Parallel axes theorem

This theorem that the moment of inertia I at any given axis
is sum of moment of inertia of an object about an axis
parallel to given axis passing through the centre of mass of
a given object and the product of Mh2, here M is mass of
object and h is distance between Centre of mass and its
axis of rotation as shown.

It is expressed as:

Q. Let’s consider that we have a copper ring of mass M

and radius R and its rotated about the axis tangent to
the circle of the ring.
A. Given that,
We have a ring with mass = M
radius = R
and it is rotated about an axis perpendicular to its plane of
rotation and tangent to one of its diameters as shown.
we know that moment of inertia of ring about its Centre of
mass is

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Now according to parallel axis theorem moment of inertia about its axis of rotation
tangential to diameter of ring and it is at distance R from the Centre of mass
∴
Hence

Perpendicular axis theorem

This theorem states that the moment of inertia of a plane lamina about an axis
perpendicular to its plane is equal to the sum of its moments of inertia about two
perpendicular axes concurrent with perpendicular axis and lying in the plane of the
body.

Hence it can be expressed as

Here Ix, Iy and Iz are the moment of inertia of an object along X, Y and Z- axis
respectively

Body Axis Figure I

Thin circular ring, radius Perpendicular to plane M R2

R at centre

Thin circular ring, radius Diameter MR2/2

R

Thin rod length L Perpendicular to rod, at ML2/12

mid point

Circular disc, radius R Perpendicular to disc at M R2/2

centre

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Body Axis Figure I

Circular disc radius R Diameter M R2/4

Hollow cylinder radius R Axis of cylinder M R2

Solid cylinder radius R Axis of cylinder M R2/2

Solid sphere, radius R Diameter 2 M R2/5

Q. What would be the moment of inertia of disc about one of its diameters?
A. Now the moment of inertia of a disc about an axis through its centre of mass =

And according to the given condition if the given disc is rotated about one of its
diameter. Hence its rotation can be either along X-axis or Y-axis and the Centre of
mass will be situated at the origin as shown below

From this we can se that Ix = Iy , since

the disc is uniform and it doesn’t matter
if its rotated along any of the diameter it
moment of intertia will be same i.e., ID =
Ix = I y
Now by using perpendicular axis
theorem IZ = Ix + IY = 2ID
And since Centre of mass of the given
disc is situated at the origin, I z = IC.M = ½
MR2

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Points to Remember
Shape of body Axis of rotation Formula

About diameter

Circular disc About any tangent (Parallel to diameter)

About an axis passing through C.M and

perpendicular to plane of rotation

About its geometrical axis

Solid Cylinder
About an axis passing through C.M and
perpendicular to the length

About its geometrical axis

Hallow Cylinder
About an axis passing through C.M and
perpendicular to the length

About diameter
Hollow sphere
About tangent

About diameter
Solid sphere
About tangent

About the mid-point of the rod perpendicular to

length
Thin Rod
About one end of the rod

About diameter

Thin circular ring About an axis passing through its CM of the

ring and perpendicular to the plane of ring

About tangent perpendicular to diameter

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