IntroductionA flywheel is a large disc with a certain mass and dimension depending on the purpose that rotates freely and stores kinetic energy. The flywheel is essentially a mechanical battery as it stores the energy and then discharges. A flywheel with greater mass and dimensions will have bigger power storage. An example of a flywheel is attached to the crankshaft in a car engine which stores the energy of the firing pistons and then discharges to allow for a constant smooth power output. The use of the fly wheel cuts down on the vibrations of the engine. A simpler use of a flywheel is in a toy car where a large flywheel is connected to the driven wheels and when the car is pushed forward the flywheel stores the initial acceleration and then uses this energy to propel the car after it is released. Another example of the use of a flywheel is in uninterrupted power supply systems where the flywheel is used instead of a battery. Advantages of using the fly wheel in this situation would cut down on maintenance and have less impact on the environment as it is made of harmless materials. The flywheel does have disadvantages as it can be very expensive and when it overloads it can shatter The main objective of this experiment is to find the relationship between time and displacement. Theory Considering the forces acting on the falling mass (M) and Newton’s second law of motion, Mg−T =Ma 1. For the flywheel the tension, T provides an acceleration torque for the flywheel, 2. Where Tr=I α 1 I = Mf R2 2 I is the polar moment of inertia for the fly wheel and α is the angular acceleration. Assuming that the string does not stretch then 3. Substitute equations 2 and 3 into 1 to obtain: Mg− Ia =Ma 2 r a=α r time taken can be predicted for a specific fall s. 6. Now the equation is rearranged for t2 = 2s a t 2 we can sub in equation 4 to derive an equation t. Now using an equation of motion and rearranging it when u=0. Apparatus Figure 1 All the dimensions in figure 1 are in mm t2 = 2s I (1+ ) 2 g Mr . 1+ I M r2 Assuming the acceleration a is constant from release. 1 s=ut + a t 2 2 1 s= a t 2 2 5.g a= 4. 47 10.055 0.34 0 7. And a weight of 1N was attached to the shaft of dimensions 113mm length and 36mm diameter.4 0.6 0. Procedure The mass of 1N attached to the shaft and flywheel was aligned to the 0.4 0.2m up to 8m Results Displacement (m) 0 0. This was repeated for each interval of 0.46 ❑ 2 ( 0. The wall at the back of the flywheel had lines spaced at intervals of 0.025 0.04 12.34 10.575 0.2 0.1 m marking on the wall this was difficult since the weight wasn’t close to the wall so this could have caused inaccurate readings.2 ) ¿ ¿ 9. They were calculated using the method below 2 t = 2s I (1+ ) g M r2 0. It was then dropped and allowed to accelerate from 0 m to 0.94 15.6 0.40 11.45 11.06 Uncertaintie s (±s) 0 0.81 1+ .90 12.070 Table 1 Table one shows the results from the experiment the uncertainties where calculated by. Random uncertainty = Displaceme nt (m) Results for t2 0 maximum reading−minimum reading number of readings 0.18 Mean of results 0 7.94 12.57 11.2 0. A stopwatch was also used in this experiment to take the time taken for the mass to fall.89 15.2m so that readings could be taken at each.91 15.8 (s) Table 2 Table 2 shows the theoretical results for the flywheel.25 0 7.In this experiment a flywheel with diameter 300mm and thickness of 74mm was used.00 12.8 Results (s) 0 7.87 15.12 12.21 0 7.84 15.2m and the readings from 4 stopwatches were taken.