It takes into account not only the total mass of the body, but also how far the mass is distributed from the axis of rotation: a body will have a higher moment of inertia if it has a higher mass, or i...It takes into account not only the total mass of the body, but also how far the mass is distributed from the axis of rotation: a body will have a higher moment of inertia if it has a higher mass, or if more of the mass is distributed farther from the rotation axis. If r is the perpendicular distance of dm from the rotation axis, then the moment of inertia of the body is found by adding up all the contributions r2dm over the entire body by means of an integral:
