Chapter 9

Rotation of Rigid Bodies

PowerPoint® Lectures for

University Physics, 14th Edition
– Hugh D. Young and Roger A. Freedman Lectures by Jason Harlow
© 2016 Pearson Education Inc.
 Learning Goals for Chapter 9
Looking forward at …
• how to describe the rotation of a rigid body in terms of
angular coordinate, angular velocity, and angular
acceleration.
• how to analyze rigid-body rotation when the angular
acceleration is constant.
• the meaning of a body’s moment of inertia about a rotation
axis, and how it relates to rotational kinetic energy.
• how to calculate the moment of inertia of bodies with various
shapes, and different rotation axes.

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 Introduction
• An airplane propeller, a revolving door, a ceiling fan, and a
Ferris wheel all involve rotating rigid objects.
• Real-world rotations can be very complicated because of
stretching and twisting of the rotating body. But for now
we’ll assume that the rotating body is perfectly rigid.

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Some Jargon

• Fixed axis: I.e, an object spins in the

same place… objects on the rim of the
tire go around the same place over and
over again
Example: Earth has a fixed axis, the sun
• Rigid body: I.e, the objects don’t change
as they rotate.
Example: a bicycle wheel
Examples of Non-rigid bodies?
 Angular coordinate
• A car’s speedometer needle rotates about a fixed axis.

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 Units of angles

• One complete revolution is 360° = 2π radians.

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 Units of angles
• An angle in radians is = s/r, as shown in the figure.

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 Angular velocity
• The average angular velocity of a body is
• The subscript z means that the rotation is about the z-axis.

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 Angular velocity
• We choose the angle θ to increase in the counterclockwise
rotation.

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 Instantaneous angular velocity
• The instantaneous angular velocity is the limit of average
angular velocity as Δθ approaches zero:

• When we refer simply to “angular velocity,” we mean the

instantaneous angular velocity, not the average angular
velocity.
• The z-subscript means the object is rotating around the z-axis.
• The angular velocity can be positive or negative, depending
on the direction in which the rigid body is rotating.
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 Angular velocity is a vector
• Angular velocity is defined as
a vector whose direction is
given by the right-hand rule.

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 Angular velocity is a vector
• The sign of ωz for rotation along the z-axis

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 Rotational motion in bacteria
• Escherichia coli bacteria are
found in the lower intestines
of humans and other warm-
blooded animals.
• The bacteria swim by rotating
their long, corkscrew-shaped
flagella, which act like the
blades of a propeller.
• Each flagellum is rotated at angular speeds from
200 to 1000 rev/min (about 20 to 100 rad/s) and can vary its
speed to give the flagellum an angular acceleration.

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 Angular acceleration

The instantaneous angular acceleration is

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 Angular acceleration as a vector

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Velocity and Acceleration

Define the angular velocity  :

 d
 or   radians/ sec
t dt

Define  as the angular accelerati on

d d  2
 or   2 radians/ sec 2

dt dt
Uniform Angular Acceleration

Derive the angular equations of motion for

constant angular acceleration

1 2
   0 0t  t
2
   0  t
 Rotation with constant angular acceleration
• The rotational formulas have the same form as the straight-
line formulas, as shown in Table 9.1 below.

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 Motion on a Wheel

What is the
linear speed of a
point rotating
around in a
circle with
angular speed ,
and constant
radius R?
 Relating linear and angular kinematics
• A point at a distance r from the axis of rotation has a linear
speed of

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 Relating linear and angular kinematics
• For a point at a distance r
from the axis of rotation:
 its tangential acceleration is
atan =
 its centripetal (radial)
acceleration is
arad = v2/r =

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 The importance of using radians, not
degrees!
• Always use radians when relating linear and angular
quantities.

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Rotation and Translation
Objects can both translate and rotate at the same time. They do
both around their center of mass.
Rolling without Slipping

• In reality, car tires both rotate and

translate
• They are a good example of
something which rolls (translates,
moves forward, rotates) without
slipping
• Is there friction? What kind?
A. Static
B. Kinetic
 A Rolling Wheel

• A wheel rolls on the surface without

slipping with velocity V (your
speedometer)
• What is the velocity of the center of the
wheel (point C)?
• What is the velocity of the lowest point
(point P) w.r.t. the ground?
 Does it make sense to you?
 Try Differently: Paper Roll

• A paper towel unrolls with

velocity V
 Conceptually same thing as the
wheel
 What’s the velocity of points:
 A? B? C? D?
C B A

• Point C is where rolling

D
part separates from the
unrolled portion
– Both have same velocity
C B A
there
Back to the Wheel

• Pick reference point C

 Wheel is rotating but not moving, ground
moves with speed V
 Use angular velocity :

• Velocity of P w.r.t. C = -R

 Same as velocity of ground w.r.t. bike

• Then velocity of C (and bike) w.r.t. the

ground = +R=V
• Also, velocity of P w.r.t. ground is zero:
= -R +R = 0
 Sum of rotation and translation, just like
Bicycle comes to Rest

A bicycle with initial linear velocity V0 decelerates

uniformly (without slipping) to rest over a distance d.
For a wheel of radius R:
a) What is the angular velocity at t0=0?
b) Total revolutions before it stops?
c) Total angular distance traversed by
wheel?
d) The angular acceleration?
e) The total time until it stops?
 Rotational kinetic energy
• The rotational kinetic energy of a rigid body is:

• The moment of inertia, I, is obtained by multiplying the mass

of each particle by the square of its distance from the axis of
rotation and adding these products:

• The SI unit of I is the kilogram-meter2 (kg ∙ m2).

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 Moment of inertia
• Here is an apparatus free to rotate around a vertical axis.
• To reduce the moment of inertia, lock the two equal-mass
cylinders close to the center of the horizontal shaft.

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 Moment of inertia
• Here is an apparatus free to rotate around a vertical axis.
• To increase the moment of inertia, lock the two equal-mass
cylinders far from the center of the horizontal shaft.

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 Moment of inertia of a bird’s wing
• When a bird flaps its wings,
it rotates the wings up and
down around the shoulder.
• A hummingbird has small
wings with a small moment
of inertia, so the bird can
move its wings rapidly (up
to 70 beats per second).
• By contrast, the Andean
condor has immense wings
with a large moment of
inertia, and flaps its wings at
about one beat per second.
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 Moments of inertia of some common bodies:
Slide 1 of 4
• Table 9.2

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 Moments of inertia of some common bodies:
Slide 2 of 4
• Table 9.2

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 Moments of inertia of some common bodies:
Slide 3 of 4
• Table 9.2

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 Moments of inertia of some common bodies:
Slide 4 of 4
• Table 9.2

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 Gravitational potential energy of an extended
body
• The gravitational potential energy of an extended body is the
same as if all the mass were concentrated at its center of
mass: Ugrav = Mgycm.
• This athlete arches her body
so that her center of mass
actually passes under the bar.
• This technique requires a
smaller increase in
gravitational potential energy
than straddling the bar.

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 The parallel-axis theorem
• There is a simple
relationship, called the
parallel-axis theorem,
between the moment of
inertia of a body about
an axis through its
center of mass and the
moment of inertia about
any other axis parallel to
the original axis.

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 Moment of inertia calculations
• The moment of inertia of any distribution of mass can be
found by integrating over its volume:

• By measuring small variations in the orbits of satellites,

geophysicists can measure the earth’s moment of inertia.
• This tells us how our planet’s mass
is distributed within its interior.
• The data show that the earth is far
denser at the core than in its outer
layers.

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