Question

A small grinding wheel has a moment of inertia of 4.0*10-5kgm2. What net torque must be applied to the wheel for its angular acceleration to be 150 rad/s2

Answer 1

Hi there!

We can use the rotational equivalent of Newton's Second Law:

$\huge\boxed{\Sigma \tau = I \alpha}$

Στ = Net Torque (Nm)

I = Moment of inertia (kgm²)

α = Angular acceleration (rad/sec²)

We can plug in the given values to solve.

$\Sigma \tau = (4 * 10^{-5})(150) = \boxed{0.006 Nm}$