Question

A clay vase on a potter's wheel experiences an angular acceleration of 5.69 rad/s2 due to the application of a 16.0-n m net torque. find the total moment of inertia of the vase and potter's wheel.

Answer 1

The equivalent of the Newton's second law for rotational motions is:

`\tau = I \alpha`
where

`\tau` is the net torque acting on the object

`I` is its moment of inertia

`\alpha` is the angular acceleration of the object.

Re-arranging the formula, we get

`I= (\tau)/(\alpha)`
and since we know the net torque acting on the (vase+potter's wheel) system,
`\tau=16.0 Nm`, and its angular acceleration,
`\alpha = 5.69 rad/s^2`, we can calculate the moment of inertia of the system:

`I= (\tau)/(\alpha)= (16.0 Nm)/(5.69 rad/s^2) =2.81 kg m^2`