Start with a circular disk of radius , centered on the origin in the plane. The disk has unit of mass per unit area. Next transform the disk as follows:
1) If an infinitesimal piece of disk has an coordinate with absolute value less than , leave it where it is
2) If an infinitesimal piece of disk has an coordinate greater than , rotate the piece counter-clockwise about the point by an angle of degrees
3) If an infinitesimal piece of disk has an coordinate less than , rotate the piece clockwise about the point by an angle of degrees
What is the moment of inertia of the transformed disk about the axis?
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Consider any point on the disk with x-coordinate greater than 0.5. Let such a point be r = ( x , y ) . Transformed coordinates as per the guidelines can be computed as such:
r = [ x y ] p = 2 1 [ 1 3 ] R = [ cos π / 4 sin π / 4 − sin π / 4 cos π / 4 ]
[ x n y n ] = p + R ( r − p )
Therefore:
x n = 2 1 + 2 1 ( x − 2 1 − y + 2 3 )
The moment of inertia of the region of transformed coordinates about the Y-axis can be computed as such:
I t = ∫ 0 . 5 1 ∫ − 1 − x 2 1 − x 2 x n 2 d y d x
The moment of inertial contribution due to the transformed region left of the line x = − 0 . 5 is equal to I t due to symmetry. For the rest of the disk, the moment of inertia about the Y-axis is:
I d = ∫ − 0 . 5 0 . 5 ∫ − 1 − x 2 1 − x 2 x 2 d y d x
All integrals are outsourced to Wolfram-Alpha. The total moment of inertia of this winged disk is, therefore:
I = I d + 2 I t I ≈ 2 . 2 0 5 5 4 6