Name
Period
Date
Newton’s Second Law for Rotation
Torque vs. Angular Acceleration
Purpose
To create graphical and mathematical representations of the relationship between
the torque and the angular acceleration for a system with constant mass.

Open Data Studio file Angular Acceleration.

Drape the string over the Super Pulley such that the string is in the groove of the
pulley and the Mass Hanger hangs freely. The clamp-on Super Pulley must be
adjusted at an angle, so that the thread runs in a line tangent to the point where it
leaves the 3-step Pulley and straight down the middle of the groove on the
clamp-on Super Pulley.

Be sure to wrap the string around the largest pulley of the rotary motion sensor
which has a radius of 0.024 m.

The mass hanger is 5.0 g = 0.005 kg.

If the data shows a negative rotation, wrap the string in the other direction.
Data
Hanging Mass
(kg)
0
0.025
0.045
0.065
0.085
0.105

Angular Acceleration rad
Trial 1
0
Trial 2
0
s2

Trial 3
0
Newton’s 2nd Law for Rotation Lab
page 2
Evaluation of Data
Remember:
Radius (r) of largest pulley = 0.024 m
at   r
at of the outside of the pulley  linear a of the hanging mass
FT  mg  a 
  rFT
Average
Angular Acceleration  
rad 2
s
0



Linear
Acceleration a 
m 2
s
0
 
Force of Tension
N 
Torque
Nm
0
0
Use LoggerPro to graph Torque vs. Angular Acceleration.
Torque vs. Angular Acceleration
 Nm

 rad
s2
