Uniform Circular Motion

Ms Mikaela Fudolig Physics 71 Lecture

Uniform Circular Motion

Object moves at constant speed in a circle Is velocity constant?

Centripetal Acceleration
Inward central acceleration

Centripetal Force
Inward central net force
centripetal force is not a kind of force (e.g., weight, tension, etc)

Velocity
Velocity is always tangent to the circle

Conceptual Exercise 1
A boy whirls a stone of mass m at the end of a string L so that it moves in a circle with constant speed. If the string were suddenly cut, in what direction will the stone move?

Conceptual Exercise 2
What is the direction of the (a) acceleration and (b) velocity of a Ferris wheel car at
its highest point? its lowest point?

Conceptual Exercise 3
Why is it that objects in uniform circular motion dont crash even if their acceleration is inward?

Period, T
Time it takes for object to complete one cycle.

Speed
total distance v vav total time

2 r v T

r=radius of circle T=period v=speed

Exercise 2
If Olop, the other reindeer, Santa and the sleigh were undergoing circular motion at a constant speed of 10m/s, and if it took them 1 hour to come back to where they were initially, how far did they travel?

2 r v T

r=radius of circle T=period v=speed

Exercise 3a
An object with mass m is observed to have a period T when undergoing circular motion at a constant speed v. The total distance traveled is 2r.
If the mass is increased to 2m, how long will it take the object to undergo circular motion and travel a distance 2r at constant speed v?

Exercise 3b
An object with mass m is observed to have a period T when undergoing circular motion at a constant speed v. The total distance traveled is 2r.
If the speed is increased to 2v, how long will it take the object to undergo circular motion and travel a distance 2r after some time T?

Centripetal Acceleration: Magnitude

The centripetal acceleration has a magnitude
2
v=speed
r=radius of circle

v a r

UNIFORM AND NON-UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION (for non-uniform circular motion, this is just the perpendicular component of a)

Exercise 4
An athlete is jogging at a constant speed of 1m/s in a circular track 200m long. What is the magnitude of the athletes centripetal acceleration?

v a r

v=speed r=radius of circle

Centripetal Force: Magnitude

The centripetal force has a magnitude

mv Fnet ma r

v=speed
r=radius of circle m=mass

Solving problems involving the centripetal force

Draw a free-body diagram of the object. Apply Newtons 2nd Law The net force is the centripetal force.

Example 1
A sled with a mass of 25.0kg rests on a horizontal sheet of essentially frictionless ice. It is attached by a 5.00m rope to a post set in the ice. Once given a push, the sled revolves uniformly in a circle around the post (Fig. 5.32a). If the sled makes five complete revolutions every minute, find the tension in the cord.

Exercise 5: Conical Pendulum

A ball of mass m is suspended from a rope of length L and travels at constant speed in a horizontal circle of radius r. The rope makes an angle with the vertical. Find the:
tension in the rope speed of the ball

Cars on unbanked curves

A car is moving with constant speed on an unbanked circular track. What are the forces acting on the car?
weight normal force friction
static or kinetic?

Exercise 6: Unbanked curves

A race car was able to travel at constant speed v in a circle of radius 45.7m in 15.2s without skidding. Find the:
average speed centripetal acceleration Minimum possible value of s (i.e., assume that friction has reached its maximum value for the car to move in this manner)

Banked curves
makes circular motion in frictionless surfaces possible. forces acting on object:
normal force weight

Free-body diagrams: do NOT rotate axes

Exercise 7
A curve of radius 30m is banked at an angle . Find for which a car can round the curve at 10m/s even if the road is frictionless.

Uniform Circular Motion in a Vertical Plane

Constant speed Acceleration
constant magnitude points inward

Exercise 8a: Ferris wheel

A passenger on a carnival Ferris wheel moves in a vertical circle of radius R with constant speed v.
Draw a free-body diagram for the passenger when he is (a) at the top of the circle and (b) at the bottom.

Exercise 8b: Ferris wheel

A passenger on a carnival Ferris wheel moves in a vertical circle of radius R with constant speed v.
Find the normal force exerted by the seat on the passenger when he is (a) at the top of the circle and (b) at the bottom.