Session 6: Circular Motion

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Unit 2

Session 6
Circular Motion

Contents
Introduction
6.1 Circular motion
6.2 Angular Speed
6.3 Angular and the Linear speed
6.4 Direction of the linear velocity
6.5 Acceleration of the circular motion
Learning outcomes
Review Questions

Introduction
You have been learning of angular speed, relationship between angular speed
and the linear speed, and angular acceleration.

6.1 Circular motion

When a particle P is moving on a circular path with Centre O you can
specify its position by measuring the angle between the radius OP and a fixed
radius OA .

In the study of circular motion angles are measured in radians.

P

A 𝜃 A
O

Figure 6.1

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 Session 6: Circular Motion

6.2 Angular speed

As P moves the angle  changes. The rate at which  changes with time is
the angular speed 𝜔 of the radius OP . Since the angle  is measured in
radians the usual units for angular speed are radians per second (rad s −1 ).

When it is necessary to distinguish between an anticlockwise rotation and

clockwise rotation the usual convention for angle measurement is used that
is, anticlockwise rotation is positive and clockwise rotation is negative.

The angular speed of the radius OP may also be described by the number of
complete revolutions made in a given time interval. If the time interval is one
minute the angular speed is measured in revolutions per minute (rev min −1 ).

As 𝜔 is the rate of change of  with respect to time it follows that:

𝑑𝜃
𝜔= 𝑑𝑡

When the angular speed 𝜔 is constant the particle is said to be moving in

uniform circular motion.

It is important to remember that the angular speed 𝜔 refers to the speed at

which the radius OP is turning. However, it is quite common to refer to the
angular speed 𝜔 of the particle P about O even though strictly speaking this
is not correct.

Example 6.1:
A Particle P is moving on a circular path centre O so that OP has a constant
−1
angular speed of 𝟓𝒓𝒂𝒅𝒔−𝟏 . Find the angular speed of OP in rev min .

Solution

As: 2 rad = 1rev

5
So: 5 𝑟𝑎𝑑 𝑠 −1 = 𝑟𝑒𝑣 𝑠 −1
2𝜋
And: 1 minute = 60 seconds
5 5
So: 2𝜋
𝑟𝑒𝑣𝑠 −1 = 2𝜋
× 60 𝑟𝑒𝑣 𝑚𝑖𝑛−1

150
= rev min −1

150
The angular speed of OP is = 𝜋
𝑟𝑒𝑣 𝑚𝑖𝑛−1

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Unit 2

Example 6.2

A particle P is moving on a circular path center O and is seen to make 10

complete revolutions in 4 minutes. Find the angular speed of P about O.

Solution

10 revolutions in 4 minutes is equivalent to= 2.5𝑟𝑒𝑣 𝑚𝑖𝑛−1 .

As above, 1𝑟𝑒𝑣 = 2𝜋 𝑟𝑎𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 1 𝑚𝑖𝑛 = 60𝑠

So: = 2.5 rev min −1 = 2.5×2𝜋 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑠 −1

60
𝜋
The angular speed of P about O is = 12 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑠 −1

6.3 Angular and linear speed

Consider a particle P moving on a circular path center O of radius r such that
OP has constant angular speed 𝜔. Take 𝑖 and 𝑗 to be unit vectors along and
perpendicular to OA, the fixed direction from which  is measured, as shown:

j y

𝜃
O x
i A

Figure 6.2

Suppose OP makes an angle  with OA at time T seconds.

𝑑𝜃
Since: 𝑑𝑡 = 𝜔 and  is constant, integrating with respect to t gives:

𝜃 = ∫𝜔 𝑑𝑡
= 𝜔𝑡 + 𝑐
where c is an arbitrary constant.
Taking 𝜃 = 0 when 𝑡 = 0 gives 𝑐 = 0 and hence:

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 Session 6: Circular Motion

𝜃 = 𝜔𝑡

That is ∠𝐴𝑂𝑃 = 𝜔𝑡

Hence when OP has constant angular speed 𝜔 it turns through an angle  in

time t seconds. Writing the position vector 𝑟 of P relative to O in component
form gives

𝑟 = 𝑟 cos 𝜃𝑖 + 𝑟 sin 𝜃𝑗

As 𝜃 = 𝜔𝑡, 𝑟 = 𝑟 cos 𝜔𝑡𝑖 + 𝑟 sin 𝜔𝑡𝑗.

𝑑
(𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡 ) = −𝜔 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡 and
𝑑𝑡
𝑑
(𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔𝑡 ) = 𝜔 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡
𝑑𝑡

So differentiating 𝑟 with respect to time gives:

𝑣 = 𝑟̇ = −𝑟𝜔 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔𝑡 𝑖 + 𝑟𝜔 sin 𝜔𝑡𝑗

The linear speed v of the particle is the modulus of v .

Thus: 𝑣 = |𝑣| = |−𝜔 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡𝑖 + 𝑟𝜔 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡𝑗|

= 𝑟𝜔 |− 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡𝑖 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡𝑗|

= 𝑟𝜔√𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜔 𝑡 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝜔 𝑡

∴ 𝑣 = 𝑟𝜔 ∵ 𝑠𝑖𝑛2 𝜔 𝑡 + 𝑐𝑜𝑠 2 𝜔 𝑡 = 1

When the radius is measured in meters and the angular speed in radians per
second, the linear speed is in meters per second.

6.4 Direction of the liner velocity

If the particle P moving on a circle of radius r and centre O has position vector
𝑟 relative to O given by
𝑟 = 𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡𝑖 + 𝑟 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡𝑗 y
Then the velocity vector v of P is given by P
𝑣 = −𝑟𝜔 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡𝑖 + 𝑟𝜔 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡𝑗 𝑟

The gradient of the line OP is O x

r sin t sin t
=
r cos t cos t

Figure 6.3

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Unit 2

From the equation for v the gradient of the line representing the velocity
vector v is
−𝑟𝜔 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡 − 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡
=
𝑟𝜔 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡
If two lines have gradients m1 and m2 and
𝑚1 × 𝑚2 = −1

𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡
Then the lines are perpendicular as : × (− 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔𝑡 ) = −1
𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡

If follows that the vectors OP and v are perpendicular. That is, the position
vector r and the velocity vector v of P are perpendicular. Hence the velocity
is directed along the tangent to the circular path of P as shown in the diagram
below.

P2 𝜔
v
v

P1
O

Figure 6.4

Angular speed is shown on diagrams with a curved arrow.

6.5 Acceleration in circular motion

When a particle is moving on a circular path center O at a constant speed its
direction of motion is continually changing. So the velocity of the particle is
changing and the particle therefore has acceleration.

If a particle P is moving on a circle Centre O of radius r, at time t seconds it

has position vector r relative to O given by 𝑟 = r 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔𝑡 i + r 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔𝑡 j .

P2 𝜔
v
v

Figure 6.5 O P1

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 Session 6: Circular Motion

Differentiating with respect to t gives:

𝑣 = 𝑟̇ = −𝑟𝜔 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡𝑖 + 𝑟𝜔 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡𝑗

Differentiating again with respect to t gives:

𝒂 = 𝒗̇ = 𝒓̈ = −𝑟𝝎𝟐 cos 𝜔𝑡 𝑖 − 𝒓𝝎𝟐 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝒕𝒋

𝑎 = −𝜔2 (𝑟 𝑐𝑜𝑠 𝜔 𝑡𝑖 + 𝑠𝑖𝑛 𝜔 𝑡𝑗)

But: r = r cos ti + r sin t j

So: a = − 2 r

And the magnitude of 𝑎, |𝑎| = 𝜔2 × 𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟

a = r 2

Because of the minus sign, the direction of a is opposite to the direction of r

. That is, the acceleration of P has magnitude r 2 and is directed towards the
center of the circle.

As: v = r

v
It follows that: =
r

v2
And substituting for  in a = r 2 gives: a =
r

So the acceleration of a particle moving on a circular path centre O of radius

r is given by:

𝑣2
𝑎 = 𝑟𝜔2 𝑜𝑟
𝑎=
𝑟
And is directed towards the centre O of the circle.

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Unit 2

Activity 1:

1) A particle of mass m is attached by a light inextensible string of length

l to a fixed point a on a smooth horizontal table. It is traveling with
constant angular velocity ω in a circle. What is the tension in the string
and the reaction with the table.
2) A particle of mass mkg is traveling constant speed v round a circle of
radius r.

a) If 𝑣 = 8 and 𝑟 = 2 find the magnitude of the central acceleration.

b) If the force acting towards the centre of the circle is of constant
magnitude
6N, 𝑚 = 4 and 𝑣 = 3 find the value of r.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this session, you should

• Have an idea about Angular speed, linear speed and Direction of

the linear velocity.
• Acceleration of the circular motion.

Review Questions

1. A car of mass M is turning a corner of radius r. The coefficient of

fiction between the wheels and horizontal road surface is µ. What is
the maximum speed at which the car can turn the corner without
skidding.

2. A particle of mass 0.4kg is attached to one end of the light in

extensible string of length 0.6m. The other end is fixed to a point A
on a smooth horizontal table. The particle is set moving in circular
path.
a) If the speed of the particle 8ms-1 calculate the tension in the string
and the reaction of the table.
b) If the string snaps when the tension in it exceed 50N, find the
greatest angular velocity at which the particle can travel.

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