Find the moment of inertia about a diameter of s spherical shell of uniform density, D, bounded by two concentric spheres of radii a and b, where a<b. Express your answer in terms of a, b and the mass of the spherical shell.

Question

So far I have found my equation for row (p), and have manipulated the mass to equal the triple integral of the density D, and used that to form and equation for inertia. However I am unsure if I am going in the right direction. Thanks!

Answer 1

Sounds good so far. You can check your answer at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_moments_of_inertia

More detailed drawings are found at

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/isph.html

and the rationale of adjusting the moment after removing the inside sphere is discussed at

http://scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/MomentofInertiaSphericalShell.html