AS / A’LEVEL

PHYSICS TOPIC NOTES

TOPIC: Circular Motion
Prepared & brought
To you with love by

Go to www.ciohs.org
For more quality resources

We offer students for 100% free with Notes & Handouts for all subjects, full online books
library, lecture interactive explanatory video tutorials, discussion hub with online classes
and study groups which students can join, can post questions troubling them while other
students and our tutors from different schools, academic backgrounds and countries all
over the world can help with necessary help through comments or private messages.
***** Free quality, education for all!!*****
Page 1 of 11
All rights reserved no part of these Notes handouts or any other CIOHS resources may be
reproduced for any commercial uses or edited in any form without prior copyright permission
from CIOHS. However genuine printing, sharing without editing copyright water marks and
branding is allowed. Feel free to contribute to our resources and services as we are currently
looking for contributors and volunteers who are willing to help us as a non profit organization to
make our impact and touch students lives from all over the world.

PREFACE & MESSAGE FROM CIOHS CEO, FOUNDER AND DEVELOPER

Warm greetings to you and it is my utmost pleasure and joy if you are reading this message,
as it means our goal and vision to help every student from around the world is being
achieved. As a student who grew up and studied experiencing difficulties in accessing quality
study materials like notes, handouts and textbooks, good career guidance, assistance and
help on problematic areas I felt very moved and captivated with the zeal and passion to
solve this problem. Therefore it is my pleasure presenting this technovation to all students
from around the world irrespective of age, sex, race, location and etc. Henceforth I wish all
students the best in their endeavors. My message and words to them are happy studying,
feel free to use CIOHS whenever you feel the need to do so and don’t hesitate to
communicate with us. We are there to serve you and help you achieve your academic goals
if you need any resources in line with resources and services we offer. This platform took
me lots of time, dedication and sleepless nights working on it so iIt will be my pleasure
seeing students benefiting at large from this service, so please consume this benefit wisely
for your benefit and future, please don’t abuse it.
Thank you

From Collins Jimu (CIOHS CEO, Founder and Developer)

You can Reach Me on:
FACEBOOK: Collins Jim | EMAIL: iamcollins@ciohs.org
Call or WhatsApp: +263773 468 496 | Website: www.iamcollins.tech

Page 2 of 11
CIRCULAR MOTION

Angular Acceleration and Centripetal Force

Forces in circular motion

Note: Put your calculator into radians mode before using circular motion equations!

Remember Newton's First law?

"If an object continues in a straight line at constant velocity, all forces acting on the
object are balanced."

Or another way of putting it...

"An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with
the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force."

Objects moving in circular motion clearly aren't going in a straight line so the
forces can't be balanced.

There is a resultant force. This is called the centripetal force.

The centripetal force is always directed towards the centre of the circle (along the radius
of the circle).

(There is no such thing as centrifugal force, so don't mention it in your exams!)

Page 3 of 11
Angular acceleration and centripetal force

If an object is moving with constant speed in circular motion, it is not going at constant
velocity. That's because velocity is a vector. Although its magnitude remains the same,
its direction varies continuously.

Because its velocity is changing, we say it is accelerating. That sounds odd! You've got
something that's accelerating but not speeding up (or slowing down)! But it is
experiencing an unbalanced (or resultant) force. Thats what makes it change direction.

This resultant force, the centripetal force, causes the centripetal acceleration. It is
always at 90° to the direction of movement of the object - and that's why the object
doesn't speed up!

If you think about a satellite orbiting the Earth, the force of gravity provides the
centripetal force and acceleration. The satellite is basically falling towards the earth but
does so at the same rate as the Earth curves away from it!

Centripetal acceleration can be calculated using:

Where:

a = centripetal acceleration (m/s2)

v = velocity (m/s)

r = radius of the circle (m)

And from Newton's Second Law:

F = ma, so

This is an equation for centripetal force.

Example:

Page 4 of 11
A car of mass 750kg moves around a circular track of radius 50m with a speed of
10ms-1. What's the centripetal force on the car and which direction does it act in?

Answer:

The direction of all centripetal forces is always towards the centre of the circle.

Vertical circles

When an object is moving in circles that are vertical, the weight of the object has to be
taken into consideration.

Example:

An object of mass 2kg is attached to the end of a string length 1m and whirled in a
vertical circle at a constant speed of 4ms-1. Find the tension in the string at the top
and the bottom of the circle. Assume gravity = 10 m/s2

Answer:

The centripetal force is the resultant of all the other forces acting on the object. The only
forces acting are the tension in the string, T, and weight, W, due to gravity.

At the top:

The tension and weight are both acting down. Hence,

Centripetal force = tension + weight

Fc = T + W

So,

T = Fc - W =

Page 5 of 11
At the bottom:

The tension acts up and the weight acts down. Hence,

Centripetal force = tension - weight

Fc = T - W

So,

T = Fc + W =

Note: If you are using v = ωr in your syllabus, you can substitute this into the equations
for centripetal force and acceleration to find values using angular velocity.

Angles in Radians and Angular Speed versus Linear Speed

Angles in radians

We usually measure angles in degrees.

360° = 1 rotation

But it's not the most convenient way to measure angles in circular motion.

Here's an alternative: Radians. The radius of a circle and its circumference are related by
the equation...

Circumference = 2πr

So the factor that allows you to convert from circumference (distance travelled around
the arc of the circle) to radius is 2π.

So in this way, 2π describes a whole circle, just as 360° describes a whole circle.

360° ≡ 2π radians and

180° ≡ π radians

Page 6 of 11
In fact, as long as you use angles in radians you can write this general equation:

s = rθ

Where:

s = arc length covered

r = radius of the circle

θ = angle in radians

Example:

Convert the following angles from degrees into radians.

90°, 135°, 330°

Answer:

180° ≡ π radians.

So multiply any angle in degrees by to find the same angle in radians.

Page 7 of 11
Example:

What angle in degrees has a car travelled around a circular track if the track has a
radius of 100 m and the distance covered by the car is 470 m?

Answer:

Convert to degrees:

Note: We had to turn the conversion factor upside down to convert from radians to
degrees.

Question:

Angular speed

In linear or straight-line motion, we measure speed by looking at how much distance is

covered each second. You can do that in circular motion too, but it's often better to
use angular speed, ω.

Angular speed measures the angle of a complete circle (measured in radians) covered per
second.

For instance,

Page 8 of 11
Where:

θ = angle of rotation in radians

t = time taken in seconds.

If you consider that the time taken for a complete rotation is the period, T, then

because 2π is the angle covered (in radians) when you do a complete circle.

Remembering that you can also write this as

ω = 2πf

Example:

An old record player spins records at 45rpm (revolutions per minute). For a point
on the circumference (radius = 10cm) calculate the angular speed in rad s-1.

Answer:

Page 9 of 11
45rpm = 45/60 = 0.75 revolutions per second = f

Angular speed = ω = 2πf x 0.75 = 4.7 rad s-1

Question:

The wheel of a car rotates at 10 revolutions per second as the car travels along. The
radius of the rubber on the tyre is 20cm.

The relationship between angular speed and linear speed

If you are going round in a circle of radius, r, and you are travelling at a linear speed, v
ms-1:

The distance covered in 1 rotation = 2πr

The time for one rotation = T, the period.

These equations allow you to relate angular and linear speed.

Question:

A shot put is swung round at 1 revolution per second. The athlete's arm is 60cm
long.

Page 10 of 11
 *****the END of Topic*****

For more notes and handouts, textbooks, online classes, study groups,
discussions, tutor guided and assisted posts and comment discussions
plus classes, lecture tutorial videos, meeting other students from other
countries and exchanging resources. Don’t worry we cover all subjects
that exist

Simply visit

www.ciohs.org
All the services are 100% free you don’t need to pay a penny. Because we are a
platform for students by students and former students also who understand
students needs.
For Compliments, Contributions Complains, Requests, Donations or Joining Us

Call or WhatsApp: +263773 468 496 | Email: talktous@ciohs.org

Page 11 of 11