A rigid body is made of three identical thin rods, each with length L = 0.530 m, fastened together in the form of a letter H, as suggested by the figure here. The body is free to rotate about a horizontal axis that runs along the length of one of the legs of the H. The body is allowed to fall from rest from a position in which the plane of the H is horizontal. What is the angular speed of the body when the plane of the H is vertical?
This is really a conservation of energy question but the hard bit is to find out the moment of inertia of this object.
The Attempt at a Solution
==> 2mgL=(1/2)I*w^2 +(1/2)mgL
and from this equation w can be easily found. However, i canot seem to get the correct Rotational Inertia. Can anyone show me how to find the moment of inertia for this system??