PH 103, Fall 2008

Fourth Week (22-26 September 2008)

Uniform Circular Motion
We come across numerous examples of circular motion in our daily life; the
ceiling fan swirling overhead, the spinning wheels of the vehicle we are traveling
in, the rotation of the earth around its axis, its revolution as well as those of other
planets around the sun and the revolution of the moon and artificial satellites
around it. Other examples of circular motion are merry-go rounds and Ferris
wheels of the amusement parks. We will idealize all these motions by Uniform
Circular Motion; motion in a circle with constant speed. In such a motion the
direction of the velocity changes but its magnitude remains the same.
v

Fig 4.1 (b) (a)

We will denote the time taken by an object to complete one revolution by T . It is
measured in seconds. The number of revolution per second, or frequency, will be
denoted by
f
and its units are s
-1
, or Hertz. Its angular velocity
w
, measured in
radians per second, is the angle it traces in one second and its linear velocity
v
is the rate of change of its linear displacement. For an object undergoing uniform
circular motion of radius R and period T seconds (Fig 4.1 (b)) we have,
T
f
1

(4.1)
T
f w

2
2
(4.2)
Rw
T
R
v

2
(4.3)
Later on we shall also see that its linear acceleration
a
is directed towards the
center of the circle; or along -
R

, and it magnitude
a
if given by
2
2
Rw
R
v
a (4.4)
If
v
is the velocity of the object at some time t and
'
v
is its velocity at a later
time t t + , then for uniform circular motion;
v
v
'
R
v
v
'
O
P
Q
v v
'

, or
'
v v (4.5)
Before proceeding further lets calculate the numerical values of the above
mentioned quantities for the circular motions mentioned in the introductory
paragraph.
Example: For a slow moving ceiling fan discussed in the class, R =0.6m, T =
0.5s,
f
= 2 Hz, 2 2 w =4

=12.4 radians/s, and the velocity

v
and centripetal
acceleration
a
of the fly sitting at the tip of the blade
v
=0.612.4=74.4m/s
a
=0.6(12.4)
2
= 912.2m/s
2,
which is about ten time
g
, the acceleration due to
gravity. This means that a fly will need to apply ten times its weight to hold on to
the blade of that very slow moving ceiling fan.
Q 4.1: Calculate the angular velocity of the a) rotational motion, b) orbital motion
of the earth about its own axis and about the sun and that of the orbital motion of
the moon about the earth and the corresponding values of the centripetal
accelerations.
4.2: Imagine driving on the motorway at 120km/h.
a) Estimate the diameter of the tires of the vehicle you are driving in and
calculate their rotational frequency and the centripetal acceleration of a stone
stuck in between their grooves.
b) Calculate the strength of the grip of the grooves in terms of the weight of the
stone preventing it from flying out.
b) How far from the vehicle and with what velocity will the stone land on the road
after one 30
th
of the revolution after the stone touches the floor.
4.3: Tie a .5 m long cord to a bucket or a small container with some water, a
marble or a small stone and whirl it in a circle in a vertical plan such that its
contents dont fall off during its motion.
a) Estimate the radius of the circle and the frequency of the circular motion.
b) Assuming it to be a uniform circular motion, which it is not, calculate the
centripetal acceleration from your estimates in part (a) and compare it with
g
.
c) What is the minimum frequency for the above mentioned experiment to be
successful?
d) What would be the corresponding minimum linear speed and the
corresponding centripetal acceleration at the lowest point of the circle?
Centripetal Acceleration: Direction and Magnitude
The centripetal acceleration is the acceleration required for uniform circular
motion. To find its direction and magnitude lets assume that
v
is the velocity of
an object executing uniform circular motion in a circle of radius R at some time t
when it is at position P and
'
v
is its velocity after time t when it is at position
Q, Fig 4.1 (a). Let be the angle between these two positions. As we make
t smaller and smaller the point P approaches the point Q and the angle
between the radii vectors OP andOQ, and hence that between the velocity
vectors
v
and
'
v
, both being respectively normal to the radii vectors OP and
OQ, also become smaller and smaller. In the limit when 0 , and as shown
in Fig 4.1 (b), v

becomes normal to
v
and points to the center of the circle.
This means that in this limit v

point in the direction of

R

. Therefore, since
the centripetal acceleration is given by,
dt
d
t
v v
a
t

0
lim
(4.6)
Therefore
a
also points in the direction of, or
R a


(4.7)
Note: While sharing the above mentioned discussion with a friend and a colleague, Dr.
Isa Daupota, he suggested the following interesting symmetry argument. For points P and
Q, close together anywhere on the circumference of the circle, v

always points inside

the circle. The center of the circle, being point of symmetry for all points on the
circumference is the point to which v

and hence
a
would point to the center in the
limit of infinitesimally small . To find the magnitude of a we first calculate
v v

. Using Eqs (4.5) and (4.6) we get,
( ) ( )
v v v v v v

' '
( )
v v v v v v v v v
+
' ' ' '
2
, or
( ) ( ) ( ) ( ) cos 1 2 cos 2 2
2 2 2 2
v v v v
Recalling the trigonometric expression ( ) ( )
2
sin 2 1 2 cos , and writing,
2
2

the above equation gives,
( )

,
_

1
]
1

'

,
_

1
]
1

,
_

2
sin 4
2
sin 2 1 1 2
2
2 sin 1 2
2 2 2 2 2 2

v v v v
,
Or, taking the square root of both sides of the above equation and retaining only the
positive sign (why?) we get,

,
_

2
sin 2

v
, giving
dt
d
u
t
v
t
v
t
v
a
t t t
a

,
_

2 /
2
2
sin
2
lim lim lim
0 0 0
,
But the angular velocity given by Eq (4.2) is the rate of change of angle,
dt
d
w

,
therefore, using Eq. (4.3) we get the expression given in Eq. (4.4);
R
v
Rw uw a
2
2
(4.4)
Newtons Universal Law of Gravitation: Some 300 years ago Newton argued that the
earth must provide the pull keep the moon in its circular orbit around it and likewise the
sun must provide the pull needed to keep the earth and the other planets in their orbits
around it. From the values of time periods of the earth and of the then known planets and
their distances from the sun and inspired by Keplers Laws of planetary motion he
concluded that centripetal acceleration
s
a
provided by the sun in order to keep a planet
P moving in their orbits must be given by the following relation.

2
s
s
p
GM
a
R

(4.8)
Here G is the universal constant of gravitation, s
M
is the mass of the sun and p
R
is the
distance of the planet from the sun.
Q4.4: a) Look up your book or the web for a table of time periods of the orbital motions
of various planets, and their distance from the sun.
a) Plot
2
p p
w R
verses
p
R
on a log-log graph paper, or log(
p p
w R
) verses log(
p
R
) on
a linear graph paper. Here
p
w
is the angular velocity of the planet around the sun.
b) Find the dependence of
2
p p
w R
, and hence of the pull of the sun on the planet, on
p
R
by fitting a curve to this plot.
c) Find the value of G by dividing the slope of this plot by the mass of the sun s
M
.
Artificial Gravity: We may or may not be conscious of the push of the floor to
neutralize the pull of earths gravity on us when we stand, but the pull on our hands to
neutralize gravity when we hang from a bar could become unbearable after a few
seconds. This push and pull gives us a sense of gravity. As we shall see later this sense of
push and pull gets enhanced in an elevator when it is accelerating upwards and reduced
when it is accelerating downwards, completely disappearing in free fall and in space. We
need push and pull to keep objects moving in circle as mentioned earlier. Our arms or the
rope provides the pull when we swirl a bucket of water in a circle and the sides of the seat
provides the push to a child enjoying a ride on a merry-go-round. Thus circular motion
can provide also sense of gravity, or artificial gravity, in space.
Consider a cylindrical spaceship of radius R rotating with constant angular velocity

about its axis. An astronaut, or a cosmonaut, as the Russians would call him/her, walking
on the outer periphery of the spaceship would feel as if (s)he was walking on earth
provided, from Eq (4.4),
g Rw
R
v
a
2
2
, or
(4.9)
Here
g
is the magnitude of the acceleration on the surface of the earth due to gravity. At
other places in the spaceship away from its periphery, R r ,
g r a
2

The astronaut will feel as if he/she was in elevator on earth accelerating downwards. In
particular right on the axis of the spaceship, where 0 r , (s)he will feel no acceleration
as if he/she was in free fall and will need some kind of support to move between the axis
of the spaceship and its periphery.
Geocentric Satellites: These are satellites that are stationary with respect to a given
location on earth. If such a satellite is overhead as seen from Islamabad at a given time,
then it remains overhead all the time. As discussed in the class the angular velocity of the
orbital motion of geocentric satellites (GS) around the earth is the same the rotational
angular velocity of the earth (E) around its axis
And from Eq. (4.8) the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity on and near the surface
of the earth can be written as,

E
E
R
GM
g
(4.11)
Here G is the constant of universal gravitation,
E
M
is the mass of the earth and
E
R
is
its radius. From Eq (4.8) the pull of the earth to keep the satellite moving in a circular
orbit around it is given by

2
2
GS
E
GS GS
R
GM
R a
Here GS
R
is the radius of the orbit of the geostationary satellite and GS

its angular
velocity. Dividing and multiplying the right hand side of the above equation by the radius
of the earth
E
R , rearranging the terms and using Eq (4.11) we get,
2
2
2
1
]
1

GS
E
E
E
GS GS
R
R
R
GM
R (4.12)
Or,
2
2
1
]
1

GS
E
GS GS
R
R
g R , giving

3
1
2
2
1
]
1

GS
E
GS
R
g R

(4.13)
Since we know all the terms on the right hand side of Eq. (2.13) we can calculate the
radius of the orbit of the geostationary satellite.
Q 4.5: (a) Calculate the value of
GS
R
from the known values of
g
,
E
R and
GS

.
(b) Using the conservation of energy that you learned in your earlier schooling, and
which we will discuss in subsequent lectures, calculate the launch speed of the
geostationary satellite needed to put it into a geostationary orbit.
c) Calculate the escape velocity of the satellite and compare it with your answer in part
(b) above.
Home Work: See note of 3
rd
week