Rotational Kinetic Energy of a System of Masses

This Demonstration calculates the rotational kinetic energy of a system with angular velocity, consisting of four masses joined by two intersecting rods at distances , , , and from the crossing point ( and are aligned, as are and ). The system rotates by around the or the axis. For simplicity, the masses and the angular velocity are set to 1.

The rotational kinetic energies about the and axes are given by

and , where and .