Randall D. Knight — Rotation of a Rigid Body: Problem 68

Your engineering team has been assigned the task of measuring the properties of a new jet-engine turbine. You’ve previously determined that the turbine’s moment of inertia is \( 2.6 \text{ kg m}^2 \). The next job is to measure the frictional torque of the bearings. Your plan is to run the turbine up to a predetermined rotation speed, cut the power, and time how long it takes the turbine to reduce its rotation speed by 50%. Your data are given in the table. Draw an appropriate graph of the data and, from the slope of the best-fit line, determine the frictional torque. | Rotation (rpm) | Time (s) | | :--- | :--- | | 1500 | 19 | | 1800 | 22 | | 2100 | 25 | | 2400 | 30 | | 2700 | 34 |