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Hoop about

cylinder axis

Annular cylinder
about cylinder axis

axis

axis

Solid cylinder

about cylinder axis

axis

axis

Solid cylinder
about central diameter

Solid sphere
Thin Spherical shell axis
about any diameter about any diameter

axis Hoop
about any diameter
Slab about
axis through
centre

axis

PARALLEL AXES THEOREM:


Statement
Moment of inertia of a body about any axis is equal to the sum of moment of inertia of the
body about an axis passing through its centre of mass and mass of the body times the square of
the distance between the two axis.
Mathematically we express
=

Here,
is the moment of inertia of the body about an axis passing through centre of
mass and is the mass of the body and is the distance between the two parallel axis (axis
of rotation and axis through centre of mass)

Proof
Consider a rigid body having mass in

. Let the body is to be rotated about


z axis perpendicular to the plane of the body passing through . Let an
particle of mass
is located at = + from and at = + with respect to centre of mass. Let
the coordinates of centre of mass

be the ( , ) respectively with respect to .

Now we have, from the diagram


=

&

( )

The rotational inertia or moment of inertia of the mass


=

is
)

Using ( )
=

( +

) +

( +

Now we have
(

)+

( )

The last two terms in ( ) vanish because the body is always symmetrical about its centre of
mass. So we are left with
(

)+

Applying summation for the whole body


(

=
=

Since

and

)+

So we have now
=

Which can be expressed as


=

.( )

The 1st term in equation ( ) is the moment of inertia of the body about an axis through
its centre of mass and 2nd term represents the Mass of the body time the square of the
distance between the two parallel axes i.e
=

Importance:
This theorem is very helpful in determining the moment of inertia of any system of 1-D, 2D or three dimensional mass distribution.

Perpendicular Axis Theorem:


Statement:
Moment of inertia of a plane lamina about an axis perpendicular the plane or lamina is
equal to the sum of the moment of inertia of lamina about two axes at right angle to each other
in its own plane intersecting each other at the point where the perpendicular axis passes
through it. Mathematically
=

Proof:
Let

and

be the two perpendicular axes in the plane of a lamina. Let

mass of a particle whose position vector is from an axis through


plane. The distance of this particle from
axis is

axis is

be the

perpendicular to

and the distance of this particle from

Moment of inertia of particle about

axis =

Moment of inertia of particle about

axis=

Let we divide the whole sheet or lamina into number of particles of masses
,
,
, having position vectors , , , so that their distances from
, , , and from axis be , , , then

axis be

Moment of inertia of lamina about

axis =

Moment of inertia of lamina about

axis =

=
,

Now the moment of inertia of the masses


the plane (lamina) i.e. along axis is
=

=
+

+
+

+
=

( )
, about an axis perpendicular to

+
+

( )

Comparing ( ) and ( )
=

Importance
It is useful for the determination of moment inertia of a 2D system only.

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