Circular Motion Purpose To verify that the tension in a string causing an object to undergo circular motion is equal to the

centripetal force To verify the relationship between force and velocity To verify the relationship between force and the period of motion Before you Start

1-What is the equation for centripetal force 2- Based on this equation, what would you expect a graph of F vs. velocity to look like for an object moving in a circle with constant velocity and constant radius? 3-What would a graph of F vs. v2 look like? 4- Suppose you are swinging a wooden ball in a circle above your head. If you increase the tension in the string, what do you think will happen to the period of rotation of the ball? 5-What will happen to the velocity of the ball? 6- The figure above shows a wooden ball moving in a circle with constant velocity and constant radius. The string is attached to a hanging mass of mass M.

a- What is the tension in the string? Explain/show your work (use the hanging mass to
calculate this , this will be your calculated value of T)

b- If the wooden ball has a mass of m, what is the magnitude of the centripetal force in terms of
period t, length L and mass m of the wooden ball? Explain/show your work

c- How does the centripetal force compare to the tension in the string? d- Write an expression for the tension in the string in terms of m, L and t (this will be your
measured value of T) 7-If the string breaks when an object is undergoing the circular motion, describe its subsequential motion. 8. In the orbital motion of the planets about the sun, does the distance from the sun depend on the planets mass explain? 9. Why when approaching a curve on a highway , signs are posted to reduce speed? Data 1- Calculate t, v, Fc, predicted T and measured T in each case and record these values in your table. Mass of the wooden ball: _____ 0.2097 kg_________ Radius of string: 0.21m Table 1: Revolving Mass on a String mass (kg) 0.303 0.403 0.503 Analysis Tension in the string t10 (s) 23.08 20.33 18.48 t = t10 10 (s) v= 2R/t (m/s) Fc Measured value of T % error

1- Graph F vs. v. Does this graph have the shape that you expected? Explain 2- What mathematical function can be applied to the horizontal axis to create a straight line on the
graph?

3- Graph Force vs. What is the slope of the line on the Force vs. (velocity)2 graph and what are the
units in their most simplified form? 4- Since the slope is constant, what factors in the experiment were held constant that had the units of the slope?

5- How does your calculated value of Fc ( FT) compare to your measured value of centripetal foce
(mv2/r) ? 6- What are the units of the slope of your graph? What does this slope represent?

7- Does your data support the assertion that Fc= mv2/r? 8- Calculate the percent difference between your measured and calculated values of T in each case
and record it in your data table. Remember percent error = [(measured-calculated)/measured ]* 100

9- Summarize what was done in this experiment and what you found.