PHYS101: Introduction to Mechanics

As you read, pay attention to the diagram of an object rotating on a frictionless table in Figure 10.11. We can see the radius from the center of the table (the pivot point) and the mass at the end of the radius.

When solving dynamics problems, we first need to identify the system and draw a free-body diagram of all the forces acting upon the system. Once the forces acting upon the system are defined, we can use the torque equation and angular acceleration equations to solve the problem: $\tau_{net}=I\alpha$, where $I$ is the moment of inertia, $\tau$ is torque, and $\alpha$ is the rotational acceleration due to the torque.

Example 10.7 shows how to use these equations to determine the angular acceleration of a person pushing a merry-go-round. Here, the first step is to calculate torque. The next step is to calculate the moment of inertia. Finally, torque and moment of inertia are used to calculate the angular acceleration on the merry-go-round.