Lab question regarding cylinders

  • Thread starter Thread starter protossadv
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Cylinders Lab
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
5 replies · 1K views
protossadv
Messages
7
Reaction score
0
hi
im trying to do a lab on rotational inertia of a hollow cylinder
i plan to roll a hollow cylinder down an incline
and see how the inner radius, outer radius, and mass affects the final translational velocity
but i am not sure what i can use for the cylinder
to sufficiently control and alter the variables

does anyone have any ideas?
thanks in advance
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Different sizes of pipe -- iron pipe, plastic pipe, and so on.
Empty "tin" cans of various sizes with the ends cut off.
Surely you can think of more...
 
An easy way to control other variables such as density might be to use a cylinder in which you can drill holes of different sizes.A broomstick and a candle come to mind.You can get candles of very large radii.
 
kuruman said:
Try two identical cans of mushroom soup, one at room temperature and one left in the freezer overnight.

Only if it's Campbells mushroom soup:biggrin:
 
Different sizes of pipe -- iron pipe, plastic pipe, and so on.
Empty "tin" cans of various sizes with the ends cut off.
Surely you can think of more...
pipes are a bad idea because i would need at least 15 data different data values and i can't really slowly increase or reduce the radius
i also need uniform density so i can't use different types of pipes

freezing a can would also just give 2 data values which would not be enough

An easy way to control other variables such as density might be to use a cylinder in which you can drill holes of different sizes.A broomstick and a candle come to mind.You can get candles of very large radii.

i think that's a great idea and its worth a try

but does anyone kno anything kind of like tissue or tape
that i can constantly wrap around to increase the radius?
it would be great if its much thicker than tissue because tissue would take forever to increase the radius

thanks in advance