Chapter 8: Circular Motion and Rotation

• Uniform Circular Motion

• Torque
• Angular Momentum

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

Up until this chapter, we've been reviewing motion in a straight line. The law of inertia
states that if an object is moving, it will continue moving in a straight line at a constant
velocity until a net force causes it to speed up, slow down, or change direction. Imagine
a ball moving in a straight line in space, but tied to a string as shown in the figure
below.

-----=
v

'
, ~' v
- -,- ..;.....+-- ......- - - - - - -
~ '
'v

0
0 0
'
''

The ball will continue to move in a straight line until it reaches the end of the string, at
which time it will be pulled to a central point O and begin moving in a circle. As long as
the string is pulled toward this central point, the ball will continue moving in a circle at a
constant speed. An object moving in a circle at a constant speed is said to be in uniform Centripet.11 f(>fqo i5 the cehW· ·
circular motion (UCM). Notice that even though the speed is constant, the velocity vector seeidflg fl)(l;e tflll! '""""'
obJB<t to fi>lk>llv aditular
•n .
is not constant, since it is always changing direction due to the central force that the ,,.111. . ..
string applies to the ball, which we wil! call the centripetal force F•. Centripetal means
"center-seeking."

~ 127
 128 Physics Review

There are three vectors associated with uniform circular motion: velocity (v), centripetal
The three vectors associated force (F ), and centripetal acceleration (a). These vectors are drawn in the diagram below.
with UCM are velocity,
centripetal force, and
centripetal acceleration.

,' ,'
' ''
,
,, , , --r~---
'
'
Fe ac \

' '
' '' ,, ,
' ---- ,,
,

Notice that the velocity vector is tangent to the path of the ball and points in the
direction the ball would move if the string were to break at that instant. The centripetal
force and acceleration are both pointing toward the center. Although the centripetal
force does not change the speed of the ball, it is always pulling the ball away from its
inertial straight-line path and toward the center of the circle. Thus, the centripetal force
accelerates the ball toward the center of the circle, constantly changing its direction.

r~;k;d-i~-the ~ The time it takes for the ball to complete one .revolution is called the period (n. Since
1
time for one
' revolution, and frequency is
the number of revolutions per
.II
period is a time, we will measure it in seconds, minutes, hours, or even years. On the
other hand, frequency (f) is the number of revolutions the ban makes per unit time. Units
unit time. for frequency would include:
·- -·--···-'"-"""--·- ····---·---)
revolutions revolutions
second hour
Units for frequency can be any time unit divided into revolutions or cycles. Another
name for rev/s is hertz. We can relate all of these quantities in the equations that follow.

The constant speed of any object can be found by

d
V=-·
t
For an object moving in a circle and completing one revolution, the speed of the object
can be found by

circumference
v= = lTtr , where r is the radius of the circle,
period T

and the centripetal acceleration is

v'
a=-·
'
'
Newton's second law states that the net force and acceleration must be in the same
direction and are related by the following equation:

mv'
Fner =ma=--
r
 Circular Motion and Rotation 129

Some other examples of centripetal force are the gravitational force keeping a satellite
in orbit, and friction between a car's tires and the road that causes the car to turn in QUICK QUIZ
a circle.
The centripetal force acting 1
on a bait in ucM puHs the ball
Example: inward toward the center.
What keeps the ball from
A 100 kg racecar moves around a flat circular track of radius 50 m with a
moving all the way to the
constant speed. The car makes one revolution around the track every 10
center of the circle7
seconds. Find
(.A.) inertia
(A) the speed of the car. (B) centrifugal force
(B) the acceleration of the car. ·(C) centripetal force
ID) gra~ty
(C) the force between the tires and the road that keeps the car moving in a
circle. Answer: {A} inertia. The ball wants
to totiow a str.lght line because of
itS inertia, bill the tensiOn 1n the
Top View strlng puffs it iii-ward ifoN?JY from its
straightMline.path:

--
c#m
r•50m ''1!,.. . . '
100 kg

Solution:
(A) The speed of the car is
circumference 2(3.14)(50 m)
V= = -- = --~-~ = 31.4 m/s.
period T 10 s

(B) The acceleration of the car is

v2 (31.4 m/s) 2
a0 = - = ~--~= 2
19.7 m/s. CentrlpetolfOrcO pulls llf1
r 50m obiect towal'<l Iii< cenler of
(C) The frictional force between the tires and the road provides the its circular~ """'ifugal
centripetal force is f~~ nie~-~{::e$rM~ing/' ,
and;, m>l a:lelll fore< tM the.
F, = ma,= (JOO kg)(19.7 mis') = 1,970 N.
L~effOctof ioertla

TORQUE
Torque is the result of a force acting at a distance from a rotational axis, and it may cause
a rotation about the axis only if there is a component of the force perpendicular to the
radius. Torque is the product of the perpendicular component of the force (F1 ) and the
distance (r) (as in radius) from the rotational axis:
130 Physics Review

The unit for torque is the newton-meter. To open a hinged door, you apply a force
perpendicular to the door at the doorknob, which is mounted a certain distance from
the hinges, and create a torque that causes the door to rotate around the hinges.
When you use a wrench to tighten a bolt, you apply a force at the end of the wrench
and perpendicular to "1t to get the most torque to turn the bolt. The distance from the
rotational axis {r) is sometimes called the lever arm length; a lever is a rigid object used
to apply a force around a rotational axis.

For a system in static equilibrium, the sum of the forces must equal zero, and the sum
of the torques must also equal zero. This is illustrated in the next example.

Example: Two children sit on a seesaw that is 9 m long and pivots on an axis at its
center. The first child has a mass m 1 of 20 kg and sits at the left end of the seesaw,
while the second child has a mass m 2 of 40 kg ,and sits somewhere on the seesaw to
the right of the axis. At what distance r 2 from the axis should the second child sit to
keep the seesaw horizontal?

m, m,

~•
ts.
;
1<--r, r, -+I

Solution: For the seesaw to remain horizontal, the torque on the left must equal and
act in the opposite direction as the torque on the right. The forces acting on the seesaw
on either side are just the weight (mg) of each child. So

torque on the left = torque on the right, or

where each force is applied perpendicular to the seesaw board,

Canceling the g's and solving for r2 we get

 Circular Motion and Rotation 131

m 1r 1 (20 kg)(4.5 m)
r2 = - - = = 2.25 m to the right of the axis.
m2 40 kg

Could you have guessed this answer before we worked it out? Since the child on the
right is twice as heavy as the child on the left, he should sit half as far from the axis on
the right side to balance the torque the lighter child is producing on the left side.

ANGULAR MOMENTUM
In an earlier chapter, we studied linear momentum (p), which is the product of the mass
of an object and its velocity. For an object moving in a curved path such as a circle, we
can also define its angular momentum. Consider a ball on the end of a string that is
being swung in a circular path. Its angular momentum (L) is defined as the product of
its mass, velocity, and radius of orbit:

L = mvr.

We are interested in angular momentum because, as long as there are no net fXternal
torques, the quantity mvr is conserved. For example, consider a ball on the ehd of a
string that is passed through a vertical glass tube and swung in a horizontal circle at
a large radius R. If we pull the string through the tube to shorten the- radius to r, the
speed must increase to make up for the loss in radius to conserve angular momentum:

v
---,
,. ... ..
.... _ _ ,.
...
v
m
, .. -----ii .....
'
-- -- - --- m

angular momentum before :;: angular momentum after, or

mvR = mVr.

We will revisit the law of conservation of angular momentum when we review gravitation
and satellite orbits in chapter 10.