Moment of Inertia: Wands

Photo Shows the Demonstration Used at the University of Texas at Austin.

Instructions:

• Rotate the wands by spinning them on their centers on a table.

Concepts Conveyed:

• This demonstration shows that inertia is influenced by the distribution of mass. Due to the inverse proportionality relating inertia and angular acceleration, as the moment of inertia is greater in the blue wand, it rotates at a slower rate compared to the red wand.
• The demonstration involves two rotational inertia wands of the same mass with different distributions. The red wand has two interior metal slugs at the center while the blue wand has two interior metal slugs at the ends.

Last updated on September 13, 2023