Lectures # 6 Uniform Circular

Motion
Content :
Uniform Circular Motion
Force Needed for Circular Motion
The Law of Universal Gravitation
The Universal Gravitational Constant G
Gravitational Field Strength

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 Learning Objectives
• Describe the kinematic quantities that describe the circular motion
of an object.
• Be able to explain the direction and magnitude of the acceleration
of an object moving in a circle.
• Be able to describe the direction and magnitude of acceleration of
an object moving at constant speed in a circle.
• Explain the difference between centripetal force and centripetal
acceleration.
• Be able to represent the forces exerted on an object moving in a
circle using free-body diagrams.
• Be able to apply Newton’s 2nd law to objects moving in circular
paths at constant speed.
• Be able to describe the Law of Universal Gravitation and calculate
the Universal Gravitational Constant G
• Be able to introduce and calculate Gravitational Field Strength 2
 Uniform Circular Motion

• Uniform circular motion: a point particle moving

along a circular path of radius r with constant speed
v.
• Although the particle moves along its circular path
with a constant speed v, its instantaneous velocity
vector is constantly changing because the direction
of its motion is constantly changing.
• Each instantaneous velocity is tangent to the circle
and perpendicular to the radius r at the point in
question.
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Uniform Circular Motion
• average acceleration

• In the limit where goes to

zero, is exactly perpendicular
to v.
• A particle moving with constant
speed around a circle is always
accelerated toward the center.
• This acceleration is called the
centripetal (center-seeking)
acceleration. 4
Uniform Circular Motion
• The arc length is the product of the
speed and the time interval, so the angle
becomes

• as gets smaller, the magnitude of v

(indicated by ||) is approximately the
same as the arc length made by moving a
vector of magnitude | |

• the subscript с denotes centripetal 5

 Uniform Circular Motion
• The velocity is always tangential to the circle
and the acceleration always points to the
center of the circle.

where T is period, which is the time it takes

the object to complete one revolution around
its circular path.

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 Uniform Circular Motion

• The frequency f is the number of complete

revolutions, or cycles, an object makes per
unit of time.

• The SI unit of frequency is the hertz,

abbreviated Hz:

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 Uniform Circular Motion

• The rate of change of this angle is the angular

velocity. The average angular velocity is

• When the time interval is very small, becomes

the instantaneous speed v. Then the instantaneous
angular velocity becomes

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 Uniform Circular Motion

Figure : (a) In uniform circular motion, the acceleration is always

perpendicular to the velocity, so that only the direction of the velocity
changes, (b) In other two-dimensional motions, such as projectile
motion, the acceleration is neither perpendicular nor parallel to the
velocity. Then both direction and magnitude of the velocity change.

Uniform circular motion represents the special case of two-

dimensional motion in which the acceleration is always
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perpendicular to the velocity.
 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• By Newton's second law, the net force acting on

the object is in the same direction as the observed
acceleration.
• This net force is given the special name centripetal
force because it is directed toward the center of
the circle.
• It is this net force that causes the motion of the
object to be circular; without the centripetal force,
the object would travel in a straight line and not in
a circle.
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 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• The magnitude of the centripetal force is

obtained from the second law as

• Any object undergoing circular motion

necessarily experiences a force that causes
the object to move in a circular path.
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 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• Centripetal force is not a fundamental force in the

same sense that gravity is a fundamental force. It is
just the name we give to the net force—whatever
its origin—that causes an object to move in a
circle.
• A car moving in a circle with constant speed must
be acted on by a force in order to execute circular
rather than straight-line motion.
• This centripetal force is provided by the friction
between the tires and the road
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 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• Inside the car, the driver may actually believe she experiences an outward
force that pushes her against the car door.
• In reality, however, it is the car seat and door that press inward on the
driver, causing her to move in a circular path.
• The occupant of the car exerts a force on the car that is equal and opposite
to the centripetal force. This outward force, which is experienced only by
the person in the car moving in a curve (a rotating reference frame), is
called a centrifugal force. 13
 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• On a flat curve a car is turned by the frictional

force exerted on the tires by the road. If the
frictional force is not large enough, the car
does not travel around the proper curve, but
instead skids toward the outside.

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Force Needed for Circular Motion
• Figure (a) shows the force
vectors acting on a car
rounding an unbanked curve.
The weight of the car is
shown as the downward
vector mg. The normal forces
FN of the road supporting the
car act on the tires. The sum
of these normal forces just
equals the weight of the car.
• The frictional forces acting on
the tires provide the
unbalanced force that gives
the car its centripetal
acceleration and causes it to
turn. 15
 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• If the curved road is banked at an angle , the

normal force has a component toward the center of
the circle.
• When the car is moving, this inward component of
the normal force still points to the center of the circle.
• At one particular speed, this force component
provides just the necessary force for turning the car
without skidding, even if there are no sideways
frictional forces between the tires and the road.
• At this speed the car will not skid even on an ice-
covered road.
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 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• At this nonskidding speed, all of the forces

between the car and the road are
perpendicular or normal to the road surface.
• The road exerts a normal force N on the car.
The vertical component must be equal and
opposite to the gravitational force mg. The
horizontal component of N provides the
centripetal force that turns the car.

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 Force Needed for Circular Motion

• Thus we get

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 The Law of Universal Gravitation

• Newton proposed that the magnitude of the

gravitational force between two objects is
proportional to both their masses and is
inversely proportional to the square of the
distance from the body to the center of force;

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 The Law of Universal Gravitation

• The mass of a symmetrical object of uniform density

behaves under the law of universal gravitation exactly as
if it were concentrated at the point of the object's center
of symmetry. Such a point is called the center of gravity.
Example
• Calculating g in terms of G.
• Consider a mass m falling near the earth's surface. Find
its acceleration g in terms of the universal gravitational
constant G and draw some conclusions from the form of
the answer.

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 The Law of Universal Gravitation

• The gravitational force on the body is

• Both G and ME are constant, and r does not

change significantly for small variations in
height near the surface of the earth.

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 The Law of Universal Gravitation

• As a result, the law of gravitation predicts that the

acceleration due to gravity of an object at the earth's
surface is approximately constant and does not
depend on the mass of the object.
• Experimentally we know that g does not vary
appreciably from one place to another. This constancy
of g is just what Galileo found.
• Thus the law of universal gravitation not only describes
the forces that hold the planets in their orbits, but also
describes the forces on objects close to the earth.

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 The Universal Gravitational Constant G

• In 1798, 71 years after Newton's death.

Cavendish first measured the force between
small masses on earth

• Example
• Use the law of universal gravitation and the
measured value of the acceleration of gravity g
to determine the average density of the earth.

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 Gravitational Field Strength

• Now we examine gravitation from a different

but related point of view: gravitational field
strength, or more simply, the gravitational field.
• We define the gravitational field strength at
any point in space to be the gravitational force
per unit mass on a test mass m0. Thus, at a point
in space where a test mass m0 experiences a
gravitational force F, the gravitational field
strength is
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 Gravitational Field Strength
• The gravitational field strength is just the
acceleration that a unit mass would experience at
that point in space.
• Since the gravitational force is a vector, the field
must also be a vector, having both magnitude and
direction.
• If the gravitational force arises from the attraction
of the test mass by a mass M located a distance r
from the test mass, then the magnitude of the field
strength is

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Gravitational Field Strength
• The field vector lies along the line
from M to m and is directed toward
the mass M.
• For example, the gravitational field at
the earth's surface is a vector directed
toward the center of the earth with
magnitude 9.8 m/s2.
• Masses can then be treated as sources
of the gravitational field, and the force
on some particular mass is
determined by the field present at the
location of that mass.
• We can represent this field visually
with the aid of arrows representing
the direction and magnitude of the
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field at different points in space.
Gravitational Field Strength
• Another way to help visualize the
gravitational field is to diagram
lines of force. These continuous
lines are drawn in the direction of
the force on a test mass .
• The relative number of lines is
proportional to the strength of
the force and hence proportional
to the field.
• Such a representation helps show
that the field strength diminishes
as the distance from the mass
increases. The farther away from
the source of the gravi­tational
field, the farther apart the lines
are, and the weaker the field
becomes. 27