Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-1-paper-of-the-university-of-oxford/2017/6/a/solution

The parallel axis theorem relates the moment of inertia about an axis to about a parallel axis through the centre of mass, separated by perpendicular distance :
In the defining mass integral, expanding the squared distance produces a cross term whose first mass moment about the centre of mass is zero.
For a thin planar rigid body, the perpendicular axis theorem applies to two perpendicular axes in its plane and the perpendicular axis , all meeting at the same point:
Indeed, , , and . The planar condition is essential; this is not an identity for an arbitrary three-dimensional rigid body.

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