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KO 1.5 Circular Motion

This document summarizes key concepts in circular motion: 1. The radian is defined as the angle subtended at the center of a circle by an arc equal in length to the radius, with one full rotation being 2π radians. 2. Angular velocity describes motion in a circle and can be calculated based on the angle swept and time taken or as 2π divided by the period of one cycle. 3. Centripetal acceleration acts toward the center of a circle and is required to cause an object moving at a constant speed to travel in a circular path, and can be calculated using the object's velocity and angular velocity or using Newton's second law with the centripetal force.

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19 views1 page

KO 1.5 Circular Motion

This document summarizes key concepts in circular motion: 1. The radian is defined as the angle subtended at the center of a circle by an arc equal in length to the radius, with one full rotation being 2π radians. 2. Angular velocity describes motion in a circle and can be calculated based on the angle swept and time taken or as 2π divided by the period of one cycle. 3. Centripetal acceleration acts toward the center of a circle and is required to cause an object moving at a constant speed to travel in a circular path, and can be calculated using the object's velocity and angular velocity or using Newton's second law with the centripetal force.

Uploaded by

Abs Mahi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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GCE Physics Component 1.

5 Circular motion

The radian: Centripetal acceleration and force:


The radian is defined as the angle subtended at the centre of a This object is traveling with a V1
circle by an arc equal in length to the radius. It is equivalent to constant speed, v, in a circular
about 57.3 .
o s path. However, its velocity
changes due to the direction V2
This means that one whole rotation travels through 2π radians. Ѳ changing. This means it must be
accelerating due to a force acting Ѳ
r on the object. r
This is known as the centripetal
Angular velocity: V
acceleration as it is acting
towards the centre of the circle.
Motion in a circle or a cycle can be described by its
time period, T, the length of time for 1 cycle and
its frequency, f, the number of cycles per second. It can be calculated in terms of v,
and in terms of ω.

Ѳ
For an object describing a circle at uniform speed,
the angular velocity, ω, is equal to the angle θ swept r
out by the radius in time Δt divided by t. From Newtons 2nd law; F = ma. Therefore, the force acting on the object
can be calculated by these equations:

As the time taken to complete a whole cycle, 2π, is T,


the angular velocity can also be calculated by this equation:

The relationship between the arc length and radius is arc length = rθ – this is the
distance the object travels in time t. This means the speed of the object, v, can be
calculated using this equation:

v = velocity in m s-1 f = frequency in Hz a = acceleration in m s-2 F = force in N

T = period of one cycle in s ω = angular velocity in rad s-1 r = radius in m m = mass in kg

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