Uniform Circular Motion

Introduction:

A body moving in a circular path at constant speed and distance from the axis of rotation is
undergoing uniform circular motion. This type of motion is everywhere, from a car rounding a curve to
the earth orbiting the sun.
The unique feature of uniform circular motion in contrast to uniform linear motion is that though
the body’s speed is constant, its velocity is not constant. In other words, in uniform circular motion the
magnitude of the velocity remains constant, but the direction of the velocity changes. Remember that
velocity v is a vector and thus is described by two quantities: magnitude and direction. The direction of
the velocity at each instant is tangent to the circle at the point. The change of velocity vector dv
therefore, the acceleration as well, always points toward the center of the circle (centripetal
acceleration). According to Newton’s law of motion the force F causing the change of the velocity of
mass m by the amount dv in the time interval dt equals F = mdv/dt and is directed toward the center of
the circle. This center-seeking force is called a “centripetal force” and that force keeps an object in
uniform circular motion.
Since the magnitude of the acceleration is given by 𝑎 = 𝑣 $ 𝑟, (where v is the magnitude of the
object’s linear velocity and r is the radius of the circular path) the magnitude of the centripetal force is
given by
)*
𝐹' = 𝑚
+
, (1)

Thus, knowing the mass of a rotating object, the speed of rotation and the radius of the circular path
we can compute the force required to keep the object moving in a circle. The relationship between
magnitudes of the linear velocity v and angular velocity ω of the rotating object is given by
𝑣 = 𝜔𝑟 = 2𝜋𝑛𝑟 , (2)
where n is the number of revolutions per second (rpm). Therefore for centripetal force we have
𝐹 = 𝑚𝜔 $ 𝑟 = 4𝜋 $ 𝑛$ 𝑚𝑟 (3)
The centripetal force can be provided in many different ways, such as the tension in a string
attached to an object twirled in a circular path, the friction between
tires and the road for a turning car, or gravity pulling a satellite by
the planet and forcing the satellite to move in a circular orbit.
If the centripetal force disappears at a particular time, the body
v
will continue to move in the direction of its velocity at that moment, r
traveling tangent to the circular path (Fig. 1).
O
Objectives:
In this lab you will examine the relationship between mass,
velocity, radius and centripetal force, as well as investigate the
behavior of friction in circular motion. Fig. 1.

Equipment:
KET simulation “Circular motion” with virtual turntable, rolling cylinders and disks of different

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materials, mass multiplier by the factor of 1 to 10, digital scale, wireless force sensor and different
controls; Logger Pro software.

Procedure:
Before starting the experiment please get practice with the virtual equipment!
Open virtual lab “Centripetal Force”. Surrounding it you should see all its controls and other
apparatus. Familiarize yourself with the setup – without clicking, move the pointer over each item and
read the information in the message box on the right side of the turntable. Now practice how to move
the wireless force sensor, disks and cylinders, turning on/off the turntable (click the on/off switch),
adjust the radius and speed, read the corresponding values from the gauges, weigh the rolling cylinders
and disks with different mass multiplier factors and turn on the dynamic vectors to see the tangential
velocity and the centripetal force at each instant.
The disks can be dragged around the same way. Give them a try.
After practice you can start the experiment and collect data.

Part 1. Verification of the Equation for Centripetal Force (CF)

Your goal in part 1 of this lab experiment is using the linearization techniques to verify that
𝑣$
𝐹' ∝ 𝑚
𝑟
which means that the centripetal force is proportional to the mass of the object and square of the
tangential speed of the object and inversely proportional to the radius of the circular orbit.
You should use four different cylinders for each of the pairs of variable: force vs. mass - F(m),
force vs. velocity - F(v) and force vs. radius - F(r).To determine the relation between each pair of
variables (e.g. F, v), you will use the linearization technique (e.g. by graphing F vs. v2; or F vs. 1/r), or
by fitting with appropriate nonlinear function. This, of course, would not be necessary in the case of
data that is already linear. Use the third column in the table to hold the calculated data for the
successful trial when linearization is necessary.
Remember that when adjusting the speed or radius knobs you need to click and drag away from the
knob to make more precise adjustments.
When investigating force vs. radius, you will have to stop the turntable to make radius change.
Once it is stopped, move the mass, and then measure the radius r using the “Radius Indicator”. Also
you will need to reset vtangential after each radius change since it must be kept constant. This is because
for a given angular speed, changing the radius also changes the velocity.

a) How mass affects Centripetal Force

In this part of the experiment you will see how mass affects the centripetal force Fc. You must hold
the radius and velocity constant so that you are only seeing what effect a change in mass produces.
Using the four rolling cylinders and the force sensor you will need to collect and record data for force
vs. mass.
You need a rolling cylinder which can be dragged tangentially by friction with the record so that we
can make it move with different tangential speeds. But you do not want friction to act radially. The
string exerts the radial centripetal force so that the value can be read on the Wireless Force Sensor
display.
Using the Digital Scale get the original mass m of each rolling cylinder. The reading is given in
grams. Be sure to convert to kilograms. Note that when you select a new object, the last one goes back.

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 Turn off the turntable and drag and drop the force sensor somewhere near the center of the record.
Drag and drop cylinder A (upper one) onto the record. The force sensor pivots and spits out a length of
string to hold it in place. Be sure that mass multiplication factor is set ×1 (otherwise the mass of the
cylinder will be = k×m, where k is the multiplication factor of mass).
Turn on the turntable and note that the sensor rotates with it. The force exerted by the string is
recorded by the sensor and appears on the Wireless Force Sensor display. Try adjusting the speed. The
cylinder does not fly off since the string can exert any centripetal force necessary to keep it on the
record.
To measure the radius of the motion, stop the record and turn the Radius Indicator knob. The green
circle’s radius is indicated by the Radius (cm) display. It is in centimeters for convenience, but be sure
to convert to meters in your data tables and calculations. The bright line along the center of the cylinder
marks a line through its center of mass. You will measure the radius out to the center of this line.
To adjust the radius of the cylinder’s path you need to change the length of the string. If you click
on the cylinder it will release the string. Drag and drop the cylinder somewhere else and the force
sensor and string will readjust.
If you click on the white dot on the speed control knob, you can adjust the desired speed from 0-90
rpm (rotation per minute). The record will speed up or slow down to that angular speed.
Now adjust the radius and the tangential velocity (e.g. the rpm value) to some fixed value for each
(e.g. r = 10 cm and n = 70 rpm) and record the values of r and n, which should stay unchanged during
this part of the experiment. Read the value of the centripetal force on the cylinder A from the Wireless
Force Sensor display.
Now replace the cylinder and repeat the experiment with the other rolling cylinders (be sure that the
radius and rpm are the same). Record all data force vs. mass.
Open the Logger Pro software. Enter your data force vs. mass in Logger Pro. Label the columns
properly with correct units and create a graph – force versus mass. On the graph highlight all data
points and apply linear fit to the graph to find the slope. To get the uncertainty and the number of
Decimal Places for the slope, double click in the Linear Fit box and in a newly opened Linear Fit
Options window select “Show Uncertainty” and the number for “Displayed Precision”. Record the
value of slope with two decimal places. Compare the slope with the expected one. Calculate the
percentage error. Use screen capture (print screen: Ctl + PrtScn), paste in word document and attach
the graph to your lab report.

b) How velocity affects Centripetal Force

In this experiment you will hold mass and radius constant and vary the velocity to see how that
affects the centripetal force Fc.
Turn off the turntable. Drag and drop the force sensor somewhere near the center of the record and
one of the cylinders (e.g. cylinder D: mD = 180.4 grams) onto the record. The force sensor pivots and
spits out a length of string to hold it in place. Be sure that mass multiplication factor is set ×1.
Adjust the radius r = 10 cm and the speed (rpm) equals 10 rpm. Turn on the turntable and record
the values of the tangential velocity and centripetal force from corresponding windows. Repeat
experiment with eight more values of the tangential velocity (by changing the speed in the range of 10-
90 rpm with 10 rpm increments). After collecting the data force vs. velocity open the Logger Pro
software and enter your data. Label the columns properly with correct units and using the Logger Pro
features create NEW CALCULATED COLUMN - square of tangential velocity. Create graph – force
versus velocity squared (the linearization techniques). Highlight all data points on the graph and apply
linear fit to the graph to find the slope.
To get the uncertainty and the number of Decimal Places (or Significant Figures) for the slope,

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double click in the Linear Fit box and in a newly opened Linear Fit Options window select “Show
Uncertainty” and the number for “Displayed Precision”. Record the value of slope with three decimal
places. Compare the slope with the expected one by calculating the percentage error. Use screen
capture (print screen: Ctrl + PrtScn), paste in word document and attach the graph to your lab report.

c) How radius affects Centripetal Force

In this part of the experiment you will investigate the effect of the change of the radius on the
centripetal force by holding the mass and velocity constant. Since the tangential velocity 𝑣 = 𝜔𝑟 =
2𝜋𝑛𝑟 , to keep the velocity constant for different radii you have to reset the angular velocity (rpm) after
each radius change so that the product stays constant.
Turn off the turntable. Drag and drop the force sensor somewhere near the center of the record and
one of the cylinders (e.g. cylinder D: mD = 180.4 grams) onto the record. The force sensor pivots and
spits out a length of string to hold it in place. Be sure that mass multiplication factor is set ×1.
Adjust the radius r1 = 5 cm and the speed (rpm) n1 = 80 rpm. Turn on the turntable, read the value
of the tangential velocity v1 and record the values of the force on the cylinder and the radius of
spinning.
Now change the radius to the value r2 = 6 cm and adjust the rpm to n2 so that v2 = 2π n2 r2 stays
constant (v2 = v1). Make fine adjustments to reach the condition v = constant. Record the values of the
force and the radius. Repeat for four more different values of radius with increments of 1 cm keeping
the velocity v constant for each case.
After collecting the data force vs. radius open the Logger Pro and enter your data. Label the
columns properly with correct units and using the Logger Pro features create NEW CALCULATED
COLUMN (inverse of radius = 1/radius). Create graph – force versus inverse of radius (the
linearization techniques). Highlight all data points on the graph and apply linear fit to the graph and
find the slope.
To get the uncertainty and to select the number of Decimal Places for the slope, double click in the
Linear Fit box and in a newly opened Linear Fit Options window select “Show Uncertainty” and the
number for “Displayed Precision”. Record the value of slope with three decimal places. Compare the
slope with the expected one. Calculate the percentage error. Attach the graph to your lab report.

Part 2. Frictional force acting as a Centripetal Force

In this part of the experiment you will investigate the effect of the static frictional force on the
object undergoing uniform circular motion. The object, moving
around in a circular curve on the spinning turntable with no fs N
sliding or speed change, experiences static frictional force 𝑓3 , O
which in this case provides centripetal acceleration. In the W=mg
direction of motion there is a small static frictional force to
balance air resistance, but toward the center of the curve there Fig. 2. Disk on turntable
is a generally larger static frictional force, a centripetal force.
From the free body diagram (Fig. 2.) for the equation of the motion we have
)*
𝑓3 = 𝐹' = 𝑚
+
, (4)
where 𝑓3 is the static frictional force providing centripetal acceleration.
As you know, the static frictional force can have any value from zero to some maximum value
𝑓3,567 . If you can create a situation where 𝑓3 gradually increases, you can tell when it has reached its
maximum value, because at that point the body will begin to slip.

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 In this experiment you will increase the angular speed of the record, thus increasing the tangential
speed of the body, until it slides off from the surface.
For the maximum static frictional force we have
*
):,;<=
𝑓3,567 = 𝜇3 𝑚𝑔 = 𝑚
+
(5)

Dividing by m, and solving for the coefficient of static friction 𝜇3 the new equation becomes
*
):,;<=
𝜇3 =
>+
(6)

Your goal is to use equation (6) and determine 𝜇3 for one of our disks (e.g. disk D).
Turn off the turntable. Drag and drop the metal disk D (mD = 180.4 grams) onto the record. Adjust
the radius r = 5 cm and turn on the turntable with the speed n = 10 rpm and notice that there is a value
in the vtangential (m/s) display now. Start gradually increasing the speed (rpm) until the disk starts sliding.
Repeat a couple of times to be able to read more accurately the maximum value of the tangential
velocity vtang, max before the disk flies away. Use the average of three observations of vtang, max in your
calculations.
Repeat for four more different values of radius with increments of 2 cm.
Open the Logger Pro, create a new column and enter your data (r, v). Label the columns properly
with correct units and using the Logger Pro features create NEW CALCULATED COLUMN (µs =
velocity squared/9.8×radius).
Make a graph µs vs. µs and get statistics in Logger Pro to get the mean value and standard
deviation.
To get the uncertainty and the number of Decimal Places for the mean value, double click in the
Statistics box and in a newly opened Statistics Box Options window select “Show Uncertainty” and the
number for “Displayed Precision”. Use screen capture (print screen: Ctrl + PrtScn), paste in word
document and attach the graph to your lab report.

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