Video analysis of rolling cylinders

Abstract

In this work, we studied the rolling motion of solid and hollow cylinders down aninclined plane at different angles. The motions were captured on video at 300 frames s − 1, and the videos were analyzed frame by frame using video analysis software. Data from thereal motion were compared with the theory of rolling down an inclined plane withoutslipping. From the experiment, the acceleration does not depend on the cylinder mass asindicated from the theory. For the wood–steel surface, we found that the coefficient ofstatic friction was equal to 0.131 and the critical angle for the solid cylinder was21.45°. The critical angle for the hollow cylinder depends on the inner and outer radius of thecylinder. Motion paths of a point on the hollow cylinder at small and large angles wereshown to elucidate the pure rolling condition. Finally, we demonstrated that totalmechanical energy was conserved during the pure rolling motion. This confirms that workdone by the friction force is zero. We will use these results to design an interactive lecturedemonstration on rolling without slipping.