What does a hollow cylinder have to do with inertia?

Answer by  jmwilli25 (14)

A hollow cylinder has inertia because it has mass and volume and it follows Newton's First Law of Motion. Typically a hollow cylinder is used in experiments because of it's axial symmetry. That symmetry lets us easily calculate the most important thing to a cylinder which is called it's moment of inertia.

Answer by  fishy (1085)

A hollow cyclinder can be rotated at various speeds and one can study the effects of centripital and centrifugal force on objects within the cylinder. Friction coeffecients can be calculated as well as some gravitational and inertial pulls.