PROBLEM #1: CIRCULAR MOTION

AND ACCELERATION (PART A)

You have been appointed to an amusement ride safety committee for the Mall of
America's Nickelodeon Universe, which is reviewing the safety of a ride that consists of
seats mounted on each end of a rotating steel beam. For most of the ride, the beam
rotates about its center in a horizontal circle at a constant speed. One committee
member insists that a person moving in a circle at constant speed is not accelerating, so
there is no need to be concerned about the ride’s safety. Another thinks that the person
has a constant acceleration when moving at a constant speed. Yet a third argues that
the person’s acceleration depends on the rate of change of their velocity, not their speed.
Since each component of the person’s velocity changes with time, their acceleration
must change with time. You decide to settle the issue by making a model of the ride and
measuring the magnitude of the acceleration of different positions on the model when it
spins at a constant speed.

Instructions: Before lab, read the laboratory in its entirety as well as the required reading in the
textbook. In your lab notebook, respond to the warm up questions and derive a specific prediction
for the outcome of the lab. During lab, compare your warm up responses and prediction in your
group. Then, work through the exploration, measurement, analysis, and conclusion sections in
sequence, keeping a record of your findings in your lab notebook. It is often useful to use Excel to
perform data analysis, rather than doing it by hand.

Read: Knight, Jones & Field Chapter 3 Sections 3.8 (derivation), and Chapter 6 Section
6.1 to 6.2.

EQUIPMENT

You have an apparatus that spins a horizontal platform. +

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A top view of the device is shown to the right. You also +
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have a stopwatch, meterstick and the video analysis
equipment.

If equipment is missing or broken, submit a problem report by sending an email to

[email protected]. Include the room number and brief description of the
problem.

WARM UP

1. Make a drawing of the path of an object in circular motion at constant speed. On

that path, use a dot to represent the object’s position at time t1. Label this point as O,
and draw a vector at O to represent the magnitude and direction of the object’s
CIRCULAR MOTION AND ACCELERATION (PART A) – 1101Lab4Prob1

velocity at time t1. Draw another dot to represent the object’s position at a later time
t2, shortly after t1, and label this point P. Draw a vector at P to show the magnitude
and direction of the object’s velocity at time t2.
2. Redraw the velocity vectors with the tail of one vector (point P) at the tail of the
other vector (point O). Keep the same size and direction as in the previous drawing.
To find the acceleration of the object, you are interested in the change in velocity ( D
v). The change D v is the increment that must be added to the velocity at time t1 so
that the resultant velocity has the new direction after the elapsed time D t=t2 – t1.
Add the change in velocity D v to your drawing of the velocity vectors; it should be
a straight line connecting the heads of the vectors.
3. On your drawing from question 1, label the distance r from the center of the circle to
points O and P. In the limit that the time interval is very small, the arc length
distance traveled by the object can be approximated as a straight line. Use this
approximation to label the distance traveled by the object along the circle from point
O to P in terms of the object’s velocity and the elapsed time.
4. The triangle drawn in question 2 (with v and Δv) is similar to the triangle drawn in
question 3 (with r and the straight line distance traveled by the object) because they
have the same apex angle. Use the relationship of similar triangles to write an
equation that connects the sides and the bases of the two triangles.
5. Solve your equation for Δv/Δt to get an expression for the acceleration in terms of
the object’s uniform velocity and the distance r.
6. From your equation, is the acceleration of an object in circular motion ever zero?
Does the magnitude of the acceleration change with time?

PREDICTION

Does an object moving in a circle accelerate? If so, does the magnitude of the
acceleration change with time? Explain your reasoning. Use the acceleration equation
you derived in the Warm-up to support your claim.

EXPLORATION

Attach the metal platform to the A-frame base and practice spinning it at different
speeds. How many rotations does the platform make before it slows down
appreciably? Use the stopwatch to measure the total time. Determine which spin gives
the closest approximation to constant speed. At that speed, how many video frames
will you get for one rotation? Will this be enough to calculate the acceleration as a
function of time?
 CIRCULAR MOTION AND ACCELERATION (PART A) – 1101Lab4Prob1

Check to see if the rotating platform is level. Place the apparatus on the floor and adjust
the camera tripod so that the camera is directly above the center of the rotating
platform.

Practice taking some videos. Choose a position on the platform to represent a person
on the spinning ride. How will you make sure that you always click on this same
position on the platform when acquiring data?

Decide how to calibrate your video. Where would you put your origin?

MEASUREMENT

Obtain position and velocity data for a specific point on the platform as it spins. Your
video should consist of more than two complete rotations. Does the initial position of
the rotating platform in your video affect your data? Measure the distance from the
center of the platform to rider position with a ruler.

Make sure you set the scale for the axes of your graph so that you can see the data
points as you take them. Use your measurements of the total distance the object travels
and the total time to determine the maximum and minimum values for each axis.

ANALYSIS

Choose a function to represent the graph of horizontal position versus time and another
for the graph of vertical position versus time. Can you determine any of the constants
from your graph? You can waste a lot of time if you just try to guess the constants in
your equations. How can you tell when a complete rotation occurred from each graph?
Hint: Think about what functions might match the general shape of your graph. Are the data
linear, or curved? Try some of the menu options. If you still have trouble choosing a function,
ask your TA for more hints.

Similarly, choose a function to represent the graph of horizontal velocity versus time
and another for the graph of vertical velocity versus time.

Export your data to a spreadsheet. MotionLab will have the data available for export
inside the .txt file generated once you save your session.

The exported data should include horizontal and vertical positions you acquired, and
the time stamp. What is a relationship between velocity and position? Make two new
columns in your spreadsheet, and use this relationship to calculate the x and y
components of the velocity for each pair of successive position measurements.
CIRCULAR MOTION AND ACCELERATION (PART A) – 1101Lab4Prob1

How can you determine the magnitude of the velocity from the x and y components of
the velocity? Make a new column in your spreadsheet of the data that includes the
magnitude of the velocity for each point.

Use your equation from the Warm-up to calculate the magnitude of the acceleration of
the object in circular motion for each point. Include this in the data table. Is the
acceleration zero, or nonzero? Do the values change with time, or remain relatively
constant?

Make sure you save a copy of your data, because you might need it for your lab report
or the next lab problem.

CONCLUSION

Does the magnitude of the acceleration agree with your prediction? Is it constant, or
does it change with time? What will you tell the committee? State your result in the
most general terms supported by your analysis. What are the limitations on the
accuracy of your measurements and analysis?