What is physical significance of moment of inertia?
Answers
Coming to Second Moment of Area or Area Moment of Inertia refers to the resistance shown by a CROSS SECTION of any structure against external moment.
I will explain this with an example:
Consider a Beam and Column with same type of Cross Section viz. Rectangular type with d-depth, b-breadth.
The moment of inertia is a physical quantity which describes how easily a body can be rotated about a given axis. It is a rotational analogue of mass, which describes an object's resistance to translational motion. Inertia is the property of matter which resists change in its state of motion. Inertia is a measure of the force that keeps a stationary object stationary, or a moving object moving at its current speed. The larger the inertia, the greater the force that is required to bring some change in its velocity in a given amount of time. Suppose a heavy truck and a light car are both at rest, then intuitively we know that more force will be required to push the truck to a certain speed in a given amount of time than will be needed to push the car to that same speed in the same amount of time.