Astronauts F. Story Musgrave and Jeffrey A.

Hoffman, along with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Space Shuttle Endeavor, are all falling around Earth.

Rotational Motion and the Law of Gravity

Rotational motion is an important part of everyday life. The rotation of the Earth creates the cycle of day and night, the rotation of wheels enables easy vehicular motion, and modern technology depends on circular motion in a variety of contexts, from the tiny gears in a Swiss watch to the operation of lathes and other machinery. The concepts of angular speed, angular acceleration, and centripetal acceleration are central to understanding the motions of a diverse range of phenomena, from a car moving around a circular race track to clusters of galaxies orbiting a common center. Rotational motion, when combined with Newtons law of universal gravitation and his laws of motion, can also explain certain facts about space travel and satellite motion, such as where to place a satellite so it will remain xed in position over the same spot on the Earth. The generalization of gravitational potential energy and energy conservation offers an easy route to such results as planetary escape speed. Finally, we present Keplers three laws of planetary motion, which formed the foundation of Newtons approach to gravity.

7
7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 7.5 7.6 Angular Speed and Angular Acceleration Rotational Motion under Constant Angular Acceleration Relations between Angular and Linear Quantities Centripetal Acceleration Newtonian Gravitation Keplers Laws

CHAPTER

7.1 ANGULAR SPEED AND ANGULAR ACCELERATION

In the study of linear motion, the important concepts are displacement x, velocity v, and acceleration a. Each of these concepts has its analog in rotational motion: angular displacement , angular velocity , and angular acceleration . The radian, a unit of angular measure, is essential to the understanding of these concepts. Recall that the distance s around a circle is given by s 2 r, where r is
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y

Rotational Motion and the Law of Gravity

s=r x

the radius of the circle. Dividing both sides by r results in s/r 2. This quantity is dimensionless, because both s and r have dimensions of length, but the value 2 corresponds to a displacement around a circle. A half circle would give an answer of , a quarter circle an answer of /2. The numbers 2, , and /2 correspond to angles of 360, 180, and 90, respectively, so a new unit of angular measure, the radian, can be dened as the arc length s along a circle divided by the radius r : s r

u = 1 rad 53.1
Figure 7.1 For a circle of radius r, one radian is the angle subtended by an arc length equal to r.

[7.1]

TIP 7.1

Remember the Radian

Equation 7.1 denes an angle expressed in radians. Angles expressed in terms of degrees must rst be converted to radians. Also, be sure to check whether your calculator is in degree or radian mode when solving problems involving rotation.

r O P Reference line

(a)

Figure 7.1 illustrates the size of 1 radian, which is approximately 53. For conversions, we use the fact that 360 2 radians (or 180 radians). For example, 45 (2 rad/360) (/4) rad. Generally, angular quantities in physics must be expressed in radians. Be sure to set your calculator to radian mode; neglecting to do this is a common error. Armed with the concept of the radian, we can now discuss angular concepts in physics. Consider Figure 7.2a, a top view of a rotating compact disc. Such a disk is an example of a rigid body, with each part of the body xed in position relative all other parts of the body. When a rigid body rotates through a given angle, all parts of the body rotate through the same angle at the same time. For the compact disk, the axis of rotation is at the center of the disc, O. A point P on the disc is at a distance r from the origin and moves about O in a circle of radius r. We set up a xed reference line, as shown in Figure 7.2a, and assume that at time t 0 the point P is on that reference line. After a time interval t has elapsed, P has advanced to a new position (Fig. 7.2b). In this interval, the line OP has moved through the angle with respect to the reference line. The angle , measured in radians, is called the angular position and is analogous to the linear position variable x. Likewise, P has moved an arc length s measured along the circumference of the circle. In Figure 7.3, as a point on the rotating disc moves from to in a time t, it starts at an angle i and ends at an angle f . The difference f i is called the angular displacement.

P r O s u Reference line

An objects angular displacement, , is the difference in its nal and initial angles: f i SI unit: radian (rad) For example, if a point on a disk is at i 4 rad and rotates to angular position f 7 rad, the angular displacement is f i 7 rad 4 rad 3 rad. Note that we use angular variables to describe the rotating disc because each point on the disc undergoes the same angular displacement in any given time interval. Having dened angular displacements, its natural to dene an angular speed: The average angular speed av of a rotating rigid object during the time interval t is dened as the angular displacement divided by t : [7.2]

(b) Figure 7.2 (a) The point P on a rotating compact disc at t 0. (b) As the disc rotates, P moves through an arc length s.

Average angular speed

av
SI unit: radian per second (rad/s)

f i
tf ti

t [7.3]

7.1

Angular Speed and Angular Acceleration

y

191

For very short time intervals, the average angular speed approaches the instantaneous angular speed, just as in the linear case. The instantaneous angular speed of a rotating rigid object is dened as the limit of the average speed /t as the time interval t approaches zero: lim t : 0 t SI unit: radian per second (rad/s)
O

tf

r uf ui

ti

[7.4]

We take to be positive when is increasing (counterclockwise motion) and negative when is decreasing (clockwise motion). When the angular speed is constant, the instantaneous angular speed is equal to the average angular speed.

Figure 7.3 As a point on the compact disc moves from to , the disc rotates through the angle f i .

EXAMPLE 7.1 Whirlybirds

Goal Convert an angular speed in revolutions per minute to radians per second. Problem The rotor on a helicopter turns at an angular speed of 3.20 102 revolutions per minute. (In this book, we sometimes use the abbreviation rpm, but in most cases we use rev/min.) Express this angular speed in radians per second. Strategy During one revolution, the rotor turns through an angle of 2 radians. Use this relationship as a conversion factor. Solution Apply the conversion factors 1 rev 2 rad and 60 s 1 min: rev min rev 3.20 102 min 33.5 rad/s Exercise 7.1 A waterwheel turns at 1 500 revolutions per hour. Express this gure in radians per second. Answer 2.6 rad/s

3.20 102

rad min 2rev 1.00 60.0 s

Quick Quiz 7.1

A rigid body is rotating counterclockwise about a xed axis. Each of the following pairs of quantities represents an initial angular position and a nal angular position of the rigid body. Which of the sets can occur only if the rigid body rotates through more than 180? (a) 3 rad, 6 rad; (b) 1 rad, 1 rad; (c) 1 rad, 5 rad.

Quick Quiz 7.2

Suppose that the change in angular position for each of the pairs of values in Quick Quiz 7.1 occurred in 1 s. Which choice represents the lowest average angular speed? Figure 7.4 shows a bicycle turned upside down so that a repair technician can work on the rear wheel. The bicycle pedals are turned so that at time ti the wheel has angular speed i (Fig. 7.4a) and at a later time tf it has angular speed f

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Figure 7.4 An accelerating bicycle wheel rotates with (a) angular speed i at time ti and (b) angular speed f at time tf .

ti

tf

vi

vf

(a)

(b)

(Fig. 7.4b). Just as a changing speed leads to the concept of an acceleration, a changing angular speed leads to the concept of an angular acceleration.
Average angular acceleration

An objects average angular acceleration av during the time interval t is dened as the change in its angular speed divided by t :

av

f i
t f ti

t [7.5]

SI unit: radian per second squared (rad/s2) As with angular velocity, positive angular accelerations are in the counterclockwise direction, negative angular accelerations in the clockwise direction. If the angular speed goes from 15 rad/s to 9.0 rad/s in 3.0 s, then the average angular acceleration during that time interval is

av

9.0 rad/s 15 rad/s 2.0 rad/s t 3.0 s

The negative sign indicates that the angular acceleration is clockwise (though the angular speed, still positive but slowing down, is in the counterclockwise direction). There is also an instantaneous version of angular acceleration: The instantaneous angular acceleration is dened as the limit of the average angular acceleration /t as the time interval t approaches zero:

Instantaneous angular acceleration

lim

t : 0

[7.6]

SI unit: radian per second squared (rad/s2)

When a rigid object rotates about a xed axis, as does the bicycle wheel, every portion of the object has the same angular speed and the same angular acceleration. This fact is what makes these variables so useful for describing rotational motion. In contrast, the tangential (linear) speed and acceleration of the object take different values that depend on the distance from a given point to the axis of rotation.