The torque difference. Let now be the local angular displacement, and take and the section constant. The local twist per unit length is , so the transmitted torque is . Across a short slice,
Thus
to first order in slice length.
The slice's angular acceleration. The slice's axial moment of inertia is . Its net torque is the difference of the end torques, so
Canceling the common geometry gives the torsional waves in a solid circular rod,
For the given steel, . The radius cancels because both torsional stiffness and slice inertia contain the same . This ideal one-dimensional wave model neglects dissipation and additional elastic modes.