Question

Question intro:

A trade’s person is constructing a very large, old-fashioned grandfather clock by hand. The pendulum arm of this clock consists of a uniform rod (mass m and length L) with a uniform disk (mass m and radius r=L/4) at one end. The other end of the pendulum is fixed to a frictionless, horizontal axis such that the pendulum arm can rotate in a vertical plane

Question 1:

What is the symbolic expression for the gravitational potential energy of the pendulum arm as a function of the angle θ with the vertical? Choose the reference point at which Ug=0 to be when the pendulum is horizontal. This will be a symbolic answer in terms of m, g, L, and θ.

Question 2:

What is the rotational inertia I of the pendulum arm about the axis of rotation? This will be a symbolic expression in terms of m, L and integers

Answer 1