Question

rotation L1 cm,3 D2 2 L2 cm,3 Figure 3 Schematic of a torsion pendulum with major components labeled. The main Al rod is labeled as Component 1 (blue), an Al crossbar is labeled as Component 2 (green), and each brass weight is labeled as Component 3 (orange) Each component can be approximated as a cylinder with diameter Di and length Li, where i is the component number. Each brass weight's center of mass is located a distance Rcm,3 from the main rotation axis, Irotation.

Use Figure 3. Estimate the moment of inertia of the pendulum system by assuming that all components can be approximated as solid cylinders and using the parallel axis theorem (look it up!). Tip: Note that all three components rotate around the same central axis. So how do you combine the moment of inertias for all the components together?

Answer 1