Question

A solid spherical ball and a hollow spherical ball made out of the same material are released from rest at the top of a ramp. They roll down the ramp without slipping to the bottom.
On what quantities does the speed of each ball at the bottom of the ramp depend?

Answer 1

Answer:

The moment of inertia

Explanation:

Simply put, the moment of inertia refers to a measure of how an object spreads out its mass.

If two spherical balls have the same mass but different diameters, the one with a bigger diameter will have a bigger moment of inertia, because its mass will spread out more than the other.

Similarly, if two balls have the same mass and diameter, but one is hollow (so all its mass is concentrated around the outer edge) and the other is spherical , the hollow one will have a bigger moment of inertia.

If the two balls are rolled down a ramp, the solid spherical ball reaches the bottom of the ramp before the hollow ball.