Circular Motion

What is a circular motion ?

• Motion along a circular path / arc.

Uniform Circular Motion

• Circular motion with constant speed.
Non-uniform Circular Motion
• Circular motion with changing speed
Is the ball accelerating ?
When the string breaks . . .
The string breaks
at this position

The object then

moves along a
straight line.

Without tension the object

moves in a straight line.
Tension changes the
direction of the object.
Centripetal Force
• When an object moves in a circle, it must accelerates.
• The acceleration directs toward the centre of the
circle.
• According to Newton’s 2nd law, there has to be a
force to produce such acceleration
• This force must point toward the centre of the circle
(Centripetal Force)
Centripetal Acceleration

Magnitude :

v2
a   2r
r
Direction : Towards the centre

Q: Is the acceleration a constant?

Period, Speed, acceleration and force

mv 2

F  ma 
r
A top view of the car’s path is shown above. We are interested in the car’s
acceleration as it passes points A, B, and C.
Dave wants to practice vertical circles for a flying show exhibition. What must
the minimum radius of the circle be to ensure that his acceleration at the
bottom does not exceed 3.0g? The speed of the plane is 78 m/s at the bottom
of the circle.
Simple harmonic motion:
simple harmonic motion is a special type of periodic motion or oscillation
where the restoring force is directly proportional to the displacement and
acts in the direction opposite to that of displacement.
 Period and Frequency
The period of any periodic motion is the time to complete one cycle
through the full trajectory. The period of Earth s orbital motion is 1
year; the period of your beating heart is about 1 s. The frequency f of
periodic motion is the reciprocal of the period, so

For example Earth orbits the Sun every 365 days. What is the frequency of this motion, in
hertz.
Earth s orbital frequency is the reciprocal of the time period. The time period T = 3.15 x 10 7 s
Simple Harmonic Motion
A system whose motion describes
a sinusoidal function of time is a
simple harmonic oscillator, and
its motion is simple harmonic
motion (SHM). SHM is nature s
fundamental oscillation, and it s
also widespread in technology.
Amplitude and Angular Frequency in SHM

where (lowercase Greek omega) is

a constant related to m and k
 Problem

(ii) Find the time period, frequency of the oscillation. Also, calculate the position at 1.3 sec.
Let’s start with everyday language
What do you say when a sports
team is on a roll?
They may not have the lead but they
may have ___________

MOMENTUM

A team that has momentum is hard

to stop.
What is Momentum?
• This is a new fundamental quantity, like force, energy. It is a vector quantity (points
in same direction as velocity).
• The linear momentum p of an object of mass m moving with a velocity v is defined to
be the product of the mass and velocity:
Momentum = p = mv
Units: kg∙m/s
m=mass
v=velocity
• The terms momentum and linear momentum will be used interchangeably in the text
• Momentum depend on an object’s mass and velocity
Let’s practice
• A 1200 kg car drives west at 25 m/s for 3 hours. What is the car’s
momentum?
• Identify the variables:
• 1200 kg = mass
• 25m/s, west = velocity
• 3 hours = time

P = mv = 1200 x 25 = 30000 kg m/s, west

A 225-kg bumper car (and its occupant) is moving north at 98 cm/s when it hits
a 198-kg car (occupant mass included) moving north at 28 cm/s.
The 198-kg car is moving north at 71 cm/s after the head-on collision. Determine
the post-collision velocity of the 225-kg car.