CircuLar Motion

In physics, circular motion is rotation along a circle: a circular path or a circular orbit. It can be uniform, that is, with constant angular rate of rotation, or nonuniform, that is, with a changing rate of rotation. The rotation around a fixed axis of a three-dimensional body involves circular motion of its parts. The equations describing circular motion of an object do not take size or geometry into account, rather, the motion of a point mass in a plane is assumed. In practice, the center of mass of a body can be considered to undergo circular motion. Examples of circular motion include: an artificial satellite orbiting the Earth in geosynchronous orbit, a stone which is tied to a rope and is being swung in circles (cf. hammer throw), a racecar turning through a curve in a race track, an electron moving perpendicular to a uniform magnetic field, and a gear turning inside a mechanism. Circular motion is accelerated even if the angular rate of rotation is constant, because the object's velocity vector is constantly changing direction. Such change in direction of velocity involves acceleration of the moving object by a centripetal force, which pulls the moving object toward the center of the circular orbit. Without this acceleration, the object would move in a straight line, according to Newton's laws of motion.

Formulas for uniform circular motion

Figure 1: Vector relationships for uniform circular motion; vector representing the rotation is normal to the plane of the orbit. For motion in a circle of radius r, the circumference of the circle is C = 2 r. If the period for one rotation is T, the angular rate of rotation, also known as angular velocity, is:

The speed of the object traveling the circle is:

The angle swept out in a time t is:

The acceleration due to change in the direction is:

The vector relationships are shown in Figure 1. The axis of rotation is shown as a vector perpendicular to the plane of the orbit and with a magnitude = d / dt. The direction of is chosen using the right-hand rule. With this convention for depicting rotation, the velocity is given by a vector cross product as

which is a vector perpendicular to both and r ( t ), tangential to the orbit, and of magnitude r. Likewise, the acceleration is given by

which is a vector perpendicular to both and v ( t ) of magnitude |v| = 2 r and directed exactly opposite to r ( t ).[1]

Constant speed
In the simplest case the speed, mass and radius are constant. Consider a body of one kilogram, moving in a circle of radius one metre, with an angular velocity of one radian per second. The speed is one metre per second. The inward acceleration is one metre per square second. It is subject to a centripetal force of one kilogram metre per square second, which is one newton. The momentum of the body is one kgms1. The moment of inertia is one kgm2. The angular momentum is one kgm2s1. The kinetic energy is 1/2 joule. The circumference of the orbit is 2 (~ 6.283) metres. The period of the motion is 2 seconds per turn.

The frequency is (2)1 hertz. From the point of view of quantum mechanics, the system is in an excited state having quantum number ~ 9.481035.

Then consider a body of mass m, moving in a circle of radius r, with an angular velocity of . The speed is v = r. The centripetal (inward) acceleration is a = r 2 = r 1v 2. The centripetal force is F = ma = rm 2 = r1mv 2. The momentum of the body is p = mv = rm. The moment of inertia is I = r 2m. The angular momentum is L = rmv = r 2m = I. The kinetic energy is E = 21mv 2 = 21r 2m 2 = (2m)1p 2 = 21I 2 = (2I)1L 2 . The circumference of the orbit is 2r. The period of the motion is T = 2 1. The frequency is f = T 1 . (Frequency is also often denoted by the Greek letter , which however is almost indistinguishable from the letter v used here for velocity). The quantum number is J = 2L h

Description of circular motion using polar coordinates

Figure 2: Polar coordinates for circular trajectory. On the left is a unit circle showing the changes in the unit vectors and for a small increment d in angle .

and

During circular motion the body moves on a curve that can be described in polar coordinate system as a fixed distance R from the center of the orbit taken as origin, oriented at an angle (t) from some reference direction. See Figure 2. The displacement vector is the radial vector from the origin to the particle location:

where

is the unit vector parallel to the radius vector at time t and pointing away from the origin. It is handy as well, namely . It is customary to orient to point in the

to introduce the unit vector orthogonal to direction of travel along the orbit.

The velocity is the time derivative of the displacement:

Because the radius of the circle is constant, the radial component of the velocity is zero. The unit vector has a time-invariant magnitude of unity, so as time varies its tip always lies on a circle of unit radius, with an angle the same as the angle of . If the particle displacement rotates through an angle d in time dt, so does describing an arc on the unit circle of magnitude d. ,