Centripetal Acceleration

The motion of an object is called circular motion if its

distance from a fixed points remains constant all the time.
The fixed point is called center of the circle and the constant
distance is called the radius of the circle.
P
The circular motion is called
uniform circular motion if the object
moves with same speed.
O

O is the center of the circle

and OP is the radius

Is there any acceleration in uniform circular motion?

Because the velocity vector v is always perpendicular to the

position vector r Therefore, the two triangles are similar.
(Two triangles are similar if the angle between any two sides
is the same for both triangles and if the ratio of the lengths
of these sides is the same.)

(1)

(2
)

In non-uniform circular motion both the magnitude and

direction of velocity change.
The change in direction leads to radial acceleration

The change in magnitude leads to tangential acceleration

because of velocity direction along the tangent line to the
circular path
The total acceleration vector can be written as the vector
sum of the component vectors:

Magnitude
Direction