An example: You could choose to investigate a carnival ride that you have ridden in the past. Whatever it is, be creative! Whatever you choose, simplify it down into parts you can deal with, and use the posted table of moments of inertia to help you. The most important part of this lab is that your object must be more complex than just a rod, or a rod with a point mass at the end of it, or a disk with spokes or blades coming out of it. In other words, it has to be more complex than the objects you solved for in the FlipIt homework. If I don't feel that your object is difficult enough, I will ask you to redo the lab.

1) Choose an object and take a picture of it to put in your write up. You can paste the picture into your write-up (if you are typing it up) or you can attach it to the email you use to submit your write up. [For your write up, you can take pictures of your handwritten work on paper, or you can type it up in Word or a similar word processor.]

2) Describe how you are going to simplify the object down into easier pieces to work with. You can draw a quick sketch to help show your meaning. Also make sure to state with words or label on your drawing where the axis of rotation is located. 3) Make a list of distances and masses you will need to calculate the Moment of Inertia (making sure to convert to meters and kilograms) either by measuring them directly, or if that is not possible, by writing down realistic estimates of the distances and masses involved. 4) Calculate the Moment of Inertia for your object. 5) Now, recalculate the moment of inertia (using the parallel axis theorem) after you have moved the axis of rotation to a new location.