Quantities in

Circular Motion
Basic Physics

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 Objective

• Infer quantities associated with circular

motion such as tangential velocity,
centripetal acceleration, tangential
acceleration and radius of curvature.

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 Uniform Circular Motion

-a type of motion where a body moves in

circular path with constant speed.

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 Tangential Velocity
v

v
v

• Acceleration is the rate of change of

velocity (not speed), and velocity is
changing because direction is changing.
• Remember, a velocity is always
tangent to the path of circular motion.
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 Tangential Velocity
• the velocity measured of an object moving along
the edge of a circle and its direction at any point
is always tangent to the circular path.
d 2r where
vT   vT = tangential velocity
t T r = radius of curvature
T = period

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 Tangential Acceleration
• Velocity changes in both magnitude and
18 m/s direction. If you go from start to finish in 4 s,
finish your average tangential acceleration is:
• aT = (18 m/s - 10 m/s) / 4 s = 2 m/s2
start 10 m/s
v
aT 
t
• Tangential acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes
tangentially. It is just like linear acceleration and always acts
perpendicular to the centripetal acceleration.
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 Centripetal Acceleration
• What about the rate at which velocity changes
radially, due to its changing direction?
• It is the centripetal acceleration.
• Centripetal acceleration is experienced by an
object moving in a circle with constant speed
and as it moves in the circle, it constantly
changing in direction tangent to the path of the
circle in any point.
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 Centripetal Acceleration
vf = v
By similar triangles,
v | vf - vi |
r vi = v =
r vt

r So, multiplying both sides above by v,
we have
| vf - v i | v2
ac = =
t r
- v | vt
| vf i
2
v
v r ac 
v  r  r
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 Tangential vs. Centripetal Acceleration

v v
ac ac
aT
aT
moving counterclockwise; moving counterclockwise;
speeding up slowing down
• “Centripetal” means “center-seeking.”
• The magnitude of ac depends on both v and r.
That is, ac is always radial (along the radius).
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 Centripetal Force
From F = ma, we get Fc = mac = mv2 / r.
2
mv
Fc 
r
• Centripetal Force is the force needed to be exerted
to keep an object revolving about a certain axis.
• The “center-seeking” force because it is always
directed towards the center or axis of rotation.

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 Radius of Curvature
• The radius of curvature is the radius of the
approximate circle at a particular point.
• It is the length of the curvature vector.

vT T v2
mv 2
rc  rc  rc 
2 ac Fc

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SANTA ROSA SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY HIGH SCHOOL