17 Motion in a circle

AQA Physics Support

Motion in a circle Part 1

Specification reference
 3.6.1.1
 MS 0.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 4.7

Introduction
At GCSE you studied circular motion qualitatively.
You may have considered some of the following:
 satellites moving round the Earth
 planets moving round the Sun
 electrons surrounding the nucleus
 cars/bicycles travelling round corners
 ball/conker on the end of a piece of string
 aeroplane ‘looping the loop’
You will have decided that in all of these cases there is a force towards the centre.
This may be due to:
 gravity
 tension in a piece of string
 electrostatic/electromagnetic forces
 friction.
You may have discussed:
 whether a satellite in low polar orbit travels faster or slower than a geostationary
communications satellite orbiting the equator
 what factors control how fast a satellite can travel
and concluded that:
 the mass of the satellite
 its height above the Earth
are the limiting factors.
At A Level you need to be able to discuss all of these situations and others
quantitatively as well qualitatively. Circular motion is not just an isolated topic
within the A Level specification, but the ideas and equations learnt here are
used later synoptically in the topics of gravitational and magnetic fields
(chapters 21 and 24 of your Student book).

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Learning outcomes
After completing this worksheet you should be able to:
 explain how to convert from degrees to radians and vice versa
 explain the difference between linear and angular velocity
 understand that an object in circular motion travels at a constant linear speed but
its velocity changes, so that it accelerates towards the centre of the circle
 apply your knowledge to various everyday situations.

Background
Important points about circular motion:
 Linear speed v is constant.
 Direction changes as an object goes round a circle.
 Velocity changes.
 Accelerates towards centre of circle.
 Acceleration is caused by a centripetal force F towards
the centre.
 The force towards the centre F in any example is the resultant
of the forces already present.
It is not an extra force and if it is removed the object will fly off
along the tangent.
Figure 1
Radians
1 radian  angle subtended at the centre of a circle by an arc equal in length to
the radius.

LEARN
2π radians  360°  1 revolution

π radians  180° 2 radians  90°
s
θ (in radians) 
r
Figure 2

Angular velocity ω is the angle (in radians) turned through in 1 second. Units  rad
s–1
Frequency f  number of revolutions per second. Units  hertz (Hz)

Equations used in circular motion are shown below where:

v  linear speed ω  angular velocity r  radius
a  acceleration f  frequency F  force

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vrω
v2
a or a  rω2
r
mv 2
F or F  mrω2
r
2
ω  2πf or T 

Don’t forget the last two equations! It is really useful if you know the frequency or
period of revolution of an object.

Worked examples
Example 1: Finding angles in degrees and radians
Calculate the angle that the Earth spins through in an hour in:
a degrees
b radians.
In 24 hours the Earth spins through 360° or 2π radians.
360
a In one hour, angle   15°
24
2
b In one hour, angle   0.262 rad
24
Example 2: Finding angular velocity ω and linear speed v
A wheel of radius 150 mm rotates at 300 rev min–1. Calculate:
a the angular velocity
b the linear speed at a point on the rim of the wheel.
r  150 mm  0.15 m
a Step 1 Convert units of frequency from rev min–1 to Hz.
300
f  300 rev min–1   5 rev s–1  5 Hz
60
Step 2 Find the angular velocity.
Angular velocity ω  2πf
2×π×5
 10 π rad s–1
 31.42 rad s–1
b Step 3 Find the linear speed.
Linear speed v  r ω
 0.15 × 31.42
 4.713 m s–1
 4.7 m s–1 (to two significant figures)

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Example 3: Finding angular velocity ω and acceleration a

A wheel rotates at 10 revolutions per second. Calculate the centripetal acceleration
of a point 0.80 m from the centre of the wheel.
frequency  10 rev s–1 or 10 Hz
r  0.80 m
Step 1 Find the angular velocity ω.
Angular velocity ω  2πf
 2 × π × 10
 20π rad s–1
Step 2 Find the centripetal acceleration a.
Acceleration a  r ω2
 0.8 × (20 π)2
 3158 m s–2
 3200 m s–2 (to two significant figures)

Questions
1 Complete Tables 1 and 2 to check you can convert to degrees to radians and
vice versa.
Degrees Radians Radians Degrees

360 

3
90
4

45
8

1 1

Table 1 Table 2 (8 marks)

2 A man stands on the Earth’s equator.
Assuming that the radius of the Earth  6.4 × 106 m and that 1 day  8.6 × 104 s,
calculate:
a his angular velocity

(2 marks)

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b his linear speed

(2 marks)

c his acceleration due to the rotation of the Earth.

(2 marks)

3 A satellite moves in a circular orbit 640 km above the surface of the Earth. It
completes an orbit in 5880 s. Assuming the radius of the Earth  6400 km,
calculate the satellite’s centripetal acceleration.

(4 marks)

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