moment of inertia

Definitions

1. A measure of a rigid body's resistance to change in its angular velocity around a given axis.
2. Second moment of area; a measure of a rigid body's resistance to bending.

Equivalents

Examples

“The moment of inertia of a rigid body is a quantity that determines the torque needed for a given angular acceleration about a given rotational axis, analogous to how mass determines the force⟳ needed for a given acceleration.”

“The moments of inertia of a heterogeneous body whose boundary is a surface of uniform density may sometimes be found by the method of differentiation.”

“Consequently, the moment of inertia of a body relative to any axis can be found when that for the parallel axis through its centre of gravity is known.”

“Stresses due to vertical shearing forces also depend⟳ on moment of inertia and are discussed in Chapter 8. Some mathematicians and stress⟳ analysts use⟳ the term second moment of area instead of moment of inertia. That term is, in fact, more descriptive of the definition of this property in the following discussion.”

CEFR level