Pre-Lab Questions

15 Pre-Lab Questions

Please complete these questions BEFORE the lab, and bring your answers to the lab with you.

Describe the moment of inertia for point masses. How can you extrapolate from this formula to define the moment of inertia for extended rigid bodies?
Equation (9) gives an expression for moment of inertia, $I$ , of our entire system, in terms of a hanging mass ( $M$ ), radius of a rotating wheel ( $r$ ), height that a hanging mass falls ( $h$ ), and the time it takes to fall ( $t$ ). Find an expression for the uncertainty in moment of inertia ( $I$ ) by propagating the uncertainties in $t$ , $r$ , and $h$ through Equation (9) (we will neglect uncertainty in mass). Show all of your work.
Given the theoretical expression for moment of inertia of a point mass, $I_m=mR^2$ , what is the slope and y-intercept of a $log(I_m)$ vs $log(R)$ plot? Show all of your work.
Find a video on You-Tube on how to read a Vernier caliper. For example, this one is good: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkPlzmalvN4. What is the diameter of the object in the images below, to a hundredth of a millimeter?