with is shown in the diagram, where is the distance from center of the sphere. Moment of inertia of sphere about its symmetric axis is:
Variation of density of solid sphere of radius
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As the density is having spherical symmetry, let us take an element as an infinitesimally thin hollow sphere concentric with the main sphere with radius r and thickness d r .
∴ d I = 3 2 r 2 d m ( ∵ I hollow sphere = 3 2 M R 2 )
For the element, d m = ρ ⋅ d V = ρ ⋅ 4 π r 2 d r
∴ d I = 3 2 r 2 ⋅ ρ ⋅ 4 π r 2 d r
⟹ d I = 3 8 π ρ r 4 d r
⟹ I = 3 ⋅ 5 8 π ∫ 0 R ρ ⋅ 5 r 4 d r
⟹ I = 3 ⋅ 5 8 π ∫ 0 R ρ ⋅ d ( r 5 )
The above integral is simply the area under the graph of ρ vs r 5 which can be easily calculated from the above graph as 2 1 ⋅ ρ ⋅ R 5
∴ I = 1 5 4 π ρ 0 R 5