Mass Moment of Inertia
The mass moment of inertia (or simply moment of
inertia), plays the role of mass in rotational dynamics, as
we saw in
Eq.
(B.7) above.
The mass moment of inertia of a rigid body, relative to a given axis of rotation, is given by a weighted sum over its mass, with each mass-point weighted by the square of its distance from the rotation axis. Compare this with the center of mass (§B.4.1) in which each mass-point is weighted by its vector location in space (and divided by the total mass).
Equation (B.8) above gives the moment of inertia for a single point-mass
rotating a distance
from the axis to be
. Therefore,
for a rigid collection of point-masses
,
,B.14 the
moment of inertia about a given axis of rotation is obtained by adding
the component moments of inertia:
where


For a continuous mass distribution, the moment of inertia is given by integrating the contribution of each differential mass element:
![]() |
(B.10) |
where









Circular Disk Rotating in Its Own Plane
For example, the moment of inertia for a uniform circular disk of
total mass and radius
, rotating in its own plane about a
rotation axis piercing its center, is given by

Circular Disk Rotating About Its Diameter
The moment of inertia for the same circular disk rotating about an axis in the plane of the disk, passing through its center, is given by
![$\displaystyle I = \frac{M}{\pi R^2}\cdot 4\int_0^{\pi/2} \int_0^R [r\cos(\theta)]^2\, r\,dr\,d\theta
= \frac{1}{4}MR^2
$](http://www.dsprelated.com/josimages_new/pasp/img2728.png)
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Perpendicular Axis Theorem
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Rotational Kinetic Energy