The University of Zambia

School of Natural Sciences

Department of Physics
PHY 1015
Lecture 6A
Circular Motion in a Plane
Mr. Gift L. Sichone
Phone : +260764036560
Email : [email protected]
September 22, 2022

Learning Outcomes
The student should be able to:
1. define and use angular displacement, angular velocity and angular
acceleration;
2. solve problems using equations of uniformly accelerated motion in a cir-
cular path;

Introduction to Circular Motion

Many useful everyday activities that make modern life meaningful require the
use and application of circular motion. Our cars once in a while have to pass
through a roundabout or bend so that we can change direction. Life on Earth
as we know it would not be possible, if Earth was not constantly orbiting the
Sun and spining on its own axis at the same time. The Moon orbits Earth once
every day. Our artifical satellites which bring television to our living rooms
are constantly orbiting the Earth in circular orbits. Our computers have hard
drives which spin on their own axis in order to read or store data. In hospitals,
circular motion is used in centrifuges and MRI scanning machines which are
used for diagnosing diseases. In our kitchens, we use mixers and blenders to
prepare food that keeps us health. Without mankind exploiting and harnessing
the powers of angular motion, life as we know it would not be possible.

1
Description of Circular Motion
Angular Displacement
Consider a car going around a circular round about of length s and radius r.
The length of the round about s and the radius r are related as follow:

s = 2πr (1)

where s is the linear displacement of the round about if it was stretched out
in a straight line and r is the radius of the round about. The SI units of both
s and r are meters. On the other hand, 2π is an angle measured in radians
and in circular motion, is referred to as angular displacement. The angular
displacement is denoted θ.
Thus, we can rewrite the above relation between s and r as

s = θr (2)

Thus we get angular displacement θ in terms of linear displacement s and radius

of a circle r as
s
θ= (3)
r
The SI units for θ are radians (rad in short).
The angular displacement θ can also be expressed in terms of degrees(◦ ) and
revolutions (rev in short).

1 rev = 360◦ = 2π rad. (4)

Example 1
The bob of a pendulum 90 cm long swings through a 15 cm arc,
as shown in Fig. 1. Find the angle θ, in radians and in degrees,
through which it swings. We can get the angular displacement, θ, as
s
θ=
r

0.15 m
θ= = 0.17 rad
0.90 m
The angular displacement θ = 0.17 rad in degrees is

360◦
 
θ = 0.17 rad · ≈ 9.74◦
2π rad

2
 Figure 1: A bob swinging from a simple pendulum

Angular velocity
The angular velocity denoted ω refers to how fast an object is moving round a
circular track like a roundabout or spining about its own axis. Angular velocity
ω is the rate of change angular displacement θ. Mathematically, the angular
velocity is given by
θ
ω= (5)
t
where
θ is angular displacement in radians
t is the time in seconds.
The SI units for angular velocity are rad/s.
The angular velocity ω and linear velocity v are related to each other as will
be shown below. If we substitute Equation(3) into Equation (5), we get
s

ω= r
t
s
ω=
rt
Expressing the above expression in factored form, we get
s 1
ω= · (6)
t r
s
Recall that the average velocity v is given by v = . Thus , substituting, we
t
get

3
  
1
ω=v
r
v
ω=
r
Multiplying both sides by radius r, we get

v = rω (7)

where
v is the tangential or linear velocity in m/s
ω is the angular velocity in rad/s
r is the radius of a circular path in meters.
If an object covers an angular displacement of θ = 2π in time T , then T
is referred to as the period. The period measures how fast the object goes
round a circular path or spins. In Physics, another physical quantity referred to
as frequency denoted f is often used as a measure of how fast an object goes
round in a circluar path or an object spins on its own axis. The frequency f is
given by
1
f= (8)
T
and were T is the period required to complete one revolution. The period T has
SI units of seconds but frequency f is measured in Hertz (Hz). 1 Hz = 1 s−1 .
Therefore, if an objects covers an angular displacement of θ = 2π in time T ,
we can express its angular velocity ω as
θ 2π
ω= = (9)
t T
 
1
ω = 2π (10)
T

ω = 2πf (11)
where
ω is the angular frequency in rad/s.
f is the frequency in Hz
If the angular displacement of an object spining on its axis changes from
initial angular displacement θi to a final angular displacement θf in a time t,
then the average angular velocity ωav is given by
θf + θi
ωav = (12)
2

4
Example 2
A fywheel turns at 480 revolutions per minute(rpm). Compute the
angular velocity at any point on the wheel in rad/s and the tangential
speed 30.0 cm from the center. The angular speed ω in radians per second
is
     
480 rev 480 rev 2π rad 1 min
ω = 480 rpm = = · · ≈ 50.3 rad/s
1 min 1 min 1 rev 60 s

The radius of the flywheel is r = 30.0 m = 0.30 m.

We can get the tangential velocity v as

v = rω

v = (0.30 m) · (50.3 rad/s)

v = 15.09 m/s

v ≈ 15 m/s

Example 3
A fan turns at a rate of 900 rpm (i.e., rev/min).

(a) Find the angular speed of any point on one of the fan blades.
The angular speed or velocity ω in rad/s is
   
900 rev 900 rev 2π rad 1 min
ω = 900 rpm = = · · = 94.2 rad/s
1 min 1 min 1 rev 60 s

(b) Find the tangential speed of the tip of a blade if the distance
from the center to the tip is 20.0 cm.
The tangential velocity or linear velocity v is related to ω by

v = rω

where r is distance from center of rotation in meters.

Therefore, we get v as

v = (0.20 m)(94.2 rad/s)

v = 18.8 m/s.

5
Angular Acceleration
The angular acceleration (α) of an object whose axis of rotation is fixed is the
rate at which its angular speed changes with time. If the angular speed changes
uniformly from ωi to ωf in a time t, then we get angular acceleration α as
ωf − ωi
α=
t
where
ωf is the initial angular velocity in rad/s
ωi is the final angular velocity in rad/s
t is the time taken in seconds.
The SI units of angular acceleration α is rad/s2 .
The angular acceleration α is related to the linear or tangential acceleration
v
a as is shown below. Recall that ω = , thus we can make the following
r
substitutions for the initial and final angular velocities
vi vf
ωi = , ωf = (13)
r r
Substituting, we get the angular acceleration α as follows
v vi 
f
−
α= r r (14)
t
1
Factoring out , we get
r
 
1
(vf − vi )
r
α= (15)
t
Next, we rewrite the factored expression above as
  
1 v f − vi
α= (16)
r t
Recall that the average linear acceleration is given by
vf − vi
a= (17)
t
Therefore we get the angular acceleration α in terms of the radius of circular
path r and the tangential acceleration a as follows
a
α= (18)
r
Multiplying the radius r on both sides, we get

a = rα (19)

6
Example 4
A wheel of 40 cm radius rotates on a stationary axle. It is
uniformly speeded up from rest to a speed of 900 rpm in a time
of 20 s. Find

(a) the constant angular acceleration α of the wheel

The radius of the wheel r = 40 cm = 0.40 m.
The rest angular velocity is ωi = 0 rpm in rad/s is
     
0 rev 0 rev 2π rad 1 min
ωi = 0 rpm = = · · = 0 rad/s
1 min 1 min 1 rev 60 s

The final angular velocity ωf = 900 rpm in rad/s is

   
900 rev 900 rev 2π rad 1 min
ωf = 900 rpm = = · · = 94.2 rad/s
1 min 1 min 1 rev 60 s

For a time t = 20 s, we get an angular acceleration of

ωf − ωi
α=
t

94.2 rad/s − 0 rad/s

α=
20 s

94.2 rad/s
α=
20 s

α ≈ 4.71 rad/s2
(b) the tangential acceleration a of a point on its rim

a = rα

a = (0.40 m)(4.71 rad/s2 )

a ≈ 1.9 m/s2
.

7
Deriving Equations for Uniformly Accelerated An-
gular Motion
There is a connection between linear physical quantities and angular counter-
parts. This connection extends even to the equation of motions (EOM) used to
describe circular motion. The EOMs for circular motion can easiy be derived
from the EOM for linear motion by using the following substitions

relation between s and θ

s = rθ (20)

relationship between v and ω

v = rω (21)

relationship between a and α

a = rα (22)

Starting with the formula for linear average velocity vav given below
1
vav = (vf + vi ) (23)
2
Substituting for v = rω, we get
1
rωav = (rωf + rωi ) (24)
2
Cancelling out r on both side, we obtain
1
ωav = (ωi + ωf ) (25)
2
In linear motion, we known that the linear displacement s is related to the
linear average velocity vav and time t as follows

s = vav t (26)
We can obtain an expression that shows how angular displacement θ relates to
average angular velocity ωav and time t, by substiting s = rθ and vav = rωav .
We obtain

rθ = rωav t (27)
Cancelling out the r on both side, we get

θ = ωav t (28)

Similarly, we can also obtain angular counterparts of the rest of the equations
of motion by making suitable substitutings.

8
 For example, in the case of the following equation below, we substitute
v = rω and a = rα
vf = vi + at (29)

rωf = rωi + rαt (30)

Cancelling out the r on both side, we get

ωf = ωi + αt (31)

Likewise, for the following linear equation below, we substitute s = rθ,

vi = rωi and a = rα. We get
1
s = vi t + at2 (32)
2

1
rθ = rωi t + rαt2 (33)
2
Cancelling out the r on both side, we get
1
θ = ωi t + αt2 (34)
2
And finally, for the linear equation below, we substitute v = rω, a = rα and
s = rθ. We get

vf2 = vi2 + 2as (35)

(rωf )2 = (rωi )2 + 2(rα)(rθ) (36)

Expanding and simplifying, we get

r2 ωf2 = r2 ωi2 + 2r2 αθ (37)

Cancelling out the r2 on both side, we get

ωf2 = ωi2 + 2αθ (38)

We have seen that each equation of linear motion, has an structurally iden-
tical counterpart in circular motion as again show in Table

Example 5
A belt passes over a wheel of radius 25 cm, as shown in Fig. 2.
If a point on the belt has a speed of 5.0 m/s, how fast is the
wheel turning?
The angular velocity ω is a measure of how fast an object is turning. It is
related to the tangential velocity v and radius of the wheel r by

v = rω

9
 Table 1: Relations between EOMs for linear and angular motion

linear motion angular motion

1 1
vav = (vi + vf ) ωav = (ωi + ωf )
2 2

s = vav t θ = ωav t

vf = vi + at ωf = ωi + αt

1 1
s = vi t + at2 θ = ωi t + αt2
2 2

vf2 = vi2 + 2as ωf2 = ωi2 + 2αθ

Figure 2: A fly wheel turned by belt

Therefore, we can get ω in turns of v and r as

v
ω=
r

5.0 m/s
ω=
0.25 m

ω = 20 rad/s

Example 6
A pulley of 5.0 cm radius, on a motor, is turning at 30 rev/s and
slows down uniformly to 20 rev/s in 2.0 s. Calculate
(a) the angular acceleration of the motor,
the initial angular velocity ωi = 30 rev/s in rad/s is

10
    
30 rev 30 rev 2π rad
ωi = 30 rev/s = = · = 188.5 rad/s
1s 1s 1 rev
the final angular velocity ωf = 20 rev/s in rad/s is
   
20 rev 20 rev 2π rad
ωf = 20 rev/s = = · = 125.7 rad/s
1s 1s 1 rev
the time taken t = 2.0 s
therefore, we get the angular acceleration α as
ωf − ωi
α=
t
125.7 rad/s − 188.5 rad/s
α=
2.0 s
−62.8 rad/s
α=
2.0 s

α = −31.4 rad/s2
(b) the number of revolutions it makes in this time, and
to get the number of revolutions, we first need to find the angular
displacement θ and then divide it by 2π rad since each revolution is
equal to an angular displacement of 2π rad. We get θ as
1
θ = ωi t + αt2
2
1
θ = (188.5 rad/s)(2.0 s) + (−31.4 rad/s2 )(2.0 s)2
2

θ = 314.2 rad
 
1 rev
number of revolutions = θ ·
2π rad
 
1 rev
number of revolutions = 314.2 rad · ≈ 50 rev
2π rad
(c) the length of belt it winds in this time.
The linear displacement s is related to θ by
s = rθ
where r is the radius of the pulley in meters.

s = (0.05 m)(314.2 rad/s)

s ≈ 15.7 m

11
Example 7
A car has wheels of radius 30 cm. It starts from rest and accel-
erates uniformly to a speed of 15 m/s in a time of 8.0 s. Find the
angular acceleration of its wheels and the number of rotations
one wheel makes in this time.
the initial linear velocity u = 0 m/s
the final linear velocity v = 15 m/s
the time taken t = 8.0 s
We get the linear acceleration a as
v−u
a=
t

15 m/s − 0 m/s
a=
8.0 s

15 m/s
a=
8.0 s

a = 1.9 m/s2

The tangential acceleration a is related to angular acceleration α and

radius of wheel r is given by
a = rα

We get the angular acceleration α as

a
α=
r

1.9 m/s2
α=
0.30 m

α ≈ 6.3 rad/s2

The linear distance the wheel travels in this time is given by

1
s= (u + v)t
2

Therefore, we get s as
1
s= (0 m/s + 15 m/s)(8.0 s)
2

12
 1
s= (15 m/s)(8.0 s)
2

s = 60 m

The angular displacement θ covered by a car wheel of radius r = 0.30 m

from s = 60 m is

s
θ=
r

60 m
θ=
0.30 m

θ = 200 rad

The number of revolutions is given by

 
1 rev
number of revolutions = θ ·
2π rad

 
1 rev
number of revolutions = 200 rad · = 31.8 rev
2π rad

number of revolutions ≈ 32 rev

13