Teacher Guide: Uniform Circular Motion

Learning Objectives
Students will …
 Observe the directions of the velocity and acceleration vectors for an object in constant
circular motion.
 Explain how an object in uniform circular motion would move if the force holding it in its
path was removed.
 Explore the effects of radius and velocity on centripetal acceleration.
 Determine the formulas for centripetal acceleration and centripetal force.

Vocabulary
acceleration, centripetal acceleration, centripetal force,
Newton’s first law, Newton’s second law, uniform
circular motion, vector, velocity

Lesson Overview
If you have ever been on a spinning amusement park
ride, you have experienced centripetal force, the force
that keeps you on a circular path. The physics of
revolving objects such as this are explored in the
Uniform Circular Motion Gizmo. In the Gizmo, students
can adjust the radius, mass, and velocity of a puck that
is moving in a circle at constant speed.

The Student Exploration sheet contains two activities:

 Activity A – Students observe the velocity and acceleration vectors for a revolving
puck.
 Activity B – Students explore how acceleration is related to radius and velocity
and determine the equations for centripetal acceleration and centripetal force.

Suggested Lesson Sequence

1. Pre-Gizmo activity: Le Rotor ( 5-10 minutes)

Show your students a video clip of a “Rotor” amusement park ride. (See the Selected
Web Resources on the last page of this document.) Inside the Rotor, patrons stand
along the inner wall of a rotating cylinder. As the cylinder picks up speed, patrons are
pressed to the wall and remain pinned to the wall even as the floor drops down below
them. After viewing the clip, discuss with your students what is holding the riders to the
wall and why they don’t fall down when the floor drops out.

Next, show your students a video clip of a hammer thrower. (In track and field, a
hammer is a heavy ball attached to a cable that contestants try to throw as far as
possible.) Ask your students in which direction the thrower’s force is exerted on the ball
as he is spinning. Also, have students consider what other forces are acting on the ball.

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 Then discuss the path of the ball after it is released—does the ball travel in a straight line
or does it continue to revolve around the thrower?
2. Prior to using the Gizmo ( 10 – 15 minutes)
Before students are at the computers, pass out the Student Exploration sheets and ask
students to complete the Prior Knowledge Questions. Discuss student answers as a
class, but do not provide correct answers at this point. Afterwards, if possible, use a
projector to introduce the Gizmo and demonstrate its basic operations.

3. Gizmo activities ( 15 – 20 minutes per activity)

Assign students to computers. Students can work individually or in small groups. Ask
students to work through the activities in the Student Exploration using the Gizmo.
Alternatively, you can use a projector and do the Exploration as a teacher-led activity.

4. Discussion questions ( 15 – 30 minutes)

As students are working or just after they are done, discuss the following questions:
 For a body in uniform circular motion, is the direction of the acceleration vector
surprising to you? Explain why or why not.
 Why would the puck move in a straight line (rather than a curved line) if the string
attaching it to the center was cut? Why is this path tangent to the circle that the
puck was traveling along?
 Why do you think the centripetal acceleration increases when the radius
decreases? [Centripetal acceleration is a measure of how quickly direction is
changing. This occurs more rapidly when the radius is reduced.]
 Newton’s third law states that for every force, there is an equal and opposite
counterforce. If the string exerts a centripetal force on the puck that points
inward, what can you say about the force the puck exerts on the string?
 Suppose the centripetal acceleration on a puck is x. What is the centripetal
acceleration if the velocity is doubled and the distance is divided by three? [12x]
 A 2.0-kg puck moves in uniform circular motion with a radius of 4.0 m and a
velocity of 6.0 m/s. What is the centripetal force on the puck? [18.0 N]

5. Follow-up activity: Centripetal bucket ( 30 – 45 minutes)

Find a sturdy bucket and tie a 1-m rope to the bucket’s handle. Fill the bucket about one-
third full of water. Bring your class outside and ask your students to form a large circle
around you. Holding the bucket by the string, start whirling around and around, slowly at
first, so the bucket begins to orbit your body. Build up speed until the rope is nearly
horizontal. With practice, you should be able to do this without spilling any water! Allow
student volunteers to repeat the demonstration. Discuss what keeps the water from
falling out of the bucket and how this relates to the video of the Rotor ride they watched
at the beginning. Also, discuss which direction you have to pull on the rope to keep the
bucket in orbit.

If you wish, you can have students measure the period of the bucket (how long it takes
to complete one orbit) and use this information, plus the circumference of the bucket’s
orbit, to calculate the speed of the bucket. Students then can calculate the centripetal
acceleration and (if you measure the mass of the bucket) the centripetal force on the

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bucket. Compare the centripetal acceleration and force to gravitational acceleration
(9.8 m/s2) and the weight of the bucket.

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Scientific Background
Velocity, acceleration, and force are examples of vector quantities. That is, they specify both a
magnitude and a direction. Acceleration is equal to a change in velocity. Therefore, acceleration
occurs if either the speed or direction of the object changes. For objects in uniform circular
motion, the speed does not change but the direction changes constantly. The resulting
acceleration is called centripetal acceleration.

To understand why centripetal acceleration points inward,

imagine a puck in uniform circular motion pulled by a string of
length r (right). At any moment, its velocity vector is tangent to
the circle. If there was no force on the puck, it would continue
in this direction forever. Because of the string, the puck is
pulled inward. The difference between the path with no
acceleration and the circular path is shown by the Δd vector on
the diagram. The vΔt arrow represents the distance the puck
would travel in time Δt if there was no centripetal acceleration.
The Δd arrow represents the distance the object would travel
in time Δt with centripetal acceleration but no initial velocity.

Notice the diagram shows a right triangle with legs r and vΔt and hypotenuse r + Δd. By the
Pythagorean Theorem, we have:

r 2 + ( vΔt )2 =( r + Δd )2 2 2 2 2
r + v Δt =r + 2rΔd+ Δd
2 2 2
v Δt =2 rΔd+ Δd
2

For an object under a constant acceleration a, the distance traveled in time Δt is equal to:
Δd = ½ aΔt2. This expression can be substituted for Δd in the last equation:
2
aΔt 2 aΔt 2
2 2
v Δt =2 r
2
+
2 ( ) v 2 Δt 2=ra Δt 2 +
2
a Δt
4
4

Notice the first term on the right is multiplied by Δt2 while the second term is multiplied by Δt4. As
Δt is reduced to zero, the second term becomes insignificant and can be ignored. The
remainder of the equation is solved for centripetal acceleration:
2
v
2 2 2 2 a=
v Δt =ra Δt v =ra r
The last equation is the well-known expression for centripetal acceleration. To find the
centripetal force, multiply the centripetal acceleration by the mass of the puck.

Selected Web Resources

Le Rotor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvqUv2aP9tM&feature=related
Hammer throw: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uwmavv4OWvs&feature=related
Centripetal acceleration: http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Scircul.htm
Centripetal force: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/cf.html
Spin the bucket: http://www.education.com/activity/article/Centripetal_Force_middle/

Related Gizmos:
Fan Cart Physics: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?403
Orbital Motion – Kepler’s Laws: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?586
Moment of Inertia: http://www.explorelearning.com/gizmo/id?605

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