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solution

Let's compute the moment of inertia of the object for all three cases.

For (a), masses 1 and 2 are zero distance from the axis of rotation, but masses 3 and 4 are both at a distance of 1m, so the moment of inertia is

equation122

Therefore the kinetic energy is

equation124

For (b) we notice that it's really the same situation as (a) but with a relabling of the axis. So we get the same answer.

(c) has all the masses at a distane 1m from the axis of rotation so we get

equation126

Therefore the kinetic energy is

equation128



Joshua Deutsch
Wed Jan 22 17:07:34 PST 1997