MOUNT ROYAL UNIVERSITY

Department of Mathematics, Physics and Engineering

PHYS 1201
Circular Motion

Preparation: Read Classical Physics (custom edition or Mount Royal University) Section 3.8,
6.1, 6.2, and 6.3.
Equipment: Force sensor, Photo-gate, metallic cylinder, long string, Phet Simulation

Learning goals:
Explore Circular motion

Question 1:
A Ladybug is crawling in a circle around a flower like in the picture below.
a. Sketch what you think the
velocity and acceleration vectors
would look like.

b. If the flower is the “zero”

position, what would the
position vector look like?

c. Use Ladybug Motion 2D

Simulation to check your ideas. Make corrections if
necessary

Figure 1. Lady bug crawling in a circle around a flower

Question 2:
Suppose the bug is crawling along concentric circles like Figure 2.
a. Draw what you think the position vectors would look like at the locations shown in
Figure 3.
 Figure 2. Ladybug crawling along centric circles Figure 3. Position vectors (Expectations)

b. Use Ladybug Motion 2D simulation to check your ideas. Make corrections if necessary
on Figure 4.

Figure 4. position vectors

c. Draw what you think the velocity vectors would look like at the locations shown in
Figure 5.

Figure 5. Velocity vectors at some points (Expectations) Figure 6. Velocity vectors at some points

d. Draw what you think the acceleration vectors would look like at the locations in Figure
7.
e. Check your ideas and make corrections on Figure 8. You may want to use Ladybug
Revolution simulation too.
 Figure 7. Acceleration Vectors (expectations) Figure 8. Acceleration vectors

Question 3:
Explain in your own words:
a. Period of a circular motion.

b. Speed of a particle in a circular motion

c. Angular position of a particle in a circular motion

d. Angular velocity in a circular motion

e. Uniform circular motion

Question 4:
A pocket watch and Big Ben are both keeping perfect time.

a. Which minute hand has the larger angular velocity ω? Why?

b. Which minute hand’s tip has the larger tangential velocity? Why?
 Checkpoint 1: before moving on the next part, have your instructor check the results you
obtained so far.

Question 5:
A ladybug is crawling in a circle of radius 2 meters around a flower with angular velocity of 50
degrees/second. Calculate the arc length when the ladybug has travelled 180 degrees on the
circle (S = rθ).

Question 6:
Open ladybug revolution simulation. Go to Rotation page and remove position graph by clicking
on the minus sign. Choose the ruler and put the lady bug 1meter from the origin (center of the
disk. Set the angle on Zero and angular velocity at 90°/sec. Hit play, and notice the size of the
green velocity vector and pink acceleration vector. Reset, and move the lady bug to the very edge
of the platform. Set the angular velocity back to 90°/sec
a. What happens to the velocity vector?

b. What happens to the acceleration vector?

c. Use the ruler to determine the distance of the lady bug to the axis of rotation. (Assume
each numbered division is a meter). r =
d. Calculate the tangential speed (be careful of angle units) of the ladybug

e. Calculate centripetal acceleration.

f. Use the simulation to check your answers to d and e sections: click the third option down
on the left under “Show graphs” (θ, ω, v) and forth option (θ, ω, a).

Question 7:
In question 2, you showed the position vectors for lady bug at different points. What do you
think of X and Y components of the lady bug position in the circular motion? Graph your
prediction below when lady bug is 3 meters away from the origin (center of the disc):
Question 8:
Reset all. Click the first option down on the right under “Show graphs” (θ, ω, x & y). On the
position graph, click all two boxes: Show speed, show X - position, and show Y – position. Set
the angular velocity = 90°/sec and graph all in the position graph.

a. What relationship can you make about the red and purple graphs? (Stop at any point and
use the given numbers to verify your answer).

b. Draw X and Y position in the graphs below:

Question 9:
Reset all. Click the third option down on the right under “Show graphs” (θ, ω, v). On the
Velocity graph, click all three boxes: Show speed, show X - Velocity, show Y – Velocity. Set the
angular velocity = 90°/sec and graph all three lines in the velocity graph. What relationship can
you make about the red, blue, and green lines? (Stop at any point and use the given numbers to
verify your answer).

Checkpoint 2: before moving on the next part, have your instructor check the results you
obtained so far.

Question 10:
A ball swings in a vertical circle on a string counter clockwise. During one revolution, a very
sharp knife is used to cut the string at the instant when the ball is at its lowest point. Sketch the
subsequent trajectory of the ball until it hits the ground.

Question 11:
The following figures show particles moving in horizontal circles on a table top. All particles are
moving at the same speed. Rank in order, from largest to smallest, the string tension T1 to T4
and explain why.
Question 12:
a. In this part of the experiment we will have a cylinder hanging from a string tied to a force
sensor. Cylinder moves like a pendulum. There is a photo-gate which measures the
velocity of the cylinder. Both cylinder and photo-gate are connected to Data Studio.
When we connect the photo-gate to the Data Studio, we select the Velocity In Gate, Ch1
option and then go to the Constant option and enter the diameter of the cylinder as the
Flag Length. Measure the diameter of the cylinder and record it in Data Studio. You can
ask your instructor to help you. What force does the force sensor show?

b. Start the experiment and collect data as the cylinder is moving. Drag both data on the
graph icon to see the graph of force-versus-time and velocity-versus-time. Draw a free
body diagram for the experiment in figure 10.

Figure 10. Object hanging from a string, has a periodic motion.

c. Use smart tool to find the velocity of the cylinder at some points on the graph. You can
lock the smart tool option and find the force at the same points you have recorded the
velocity. Record your data in table 1 in columns 4 and 5.

d. Measure the length of the string from which the cylinder is hanging and record it in
second column of table 1.

e. Calculate the centripetal force for each velocity and record your data in table 1 (column
6).

Table 1. Data from Experiment

Radius of Mass of the Velocity of Force (force Centripetal
String Cylinder (kg) the cylinder sensor) Force
Point #1
 Point #2
Point #3
Point #4
Point #5
Point #6
Point #7

f. Compare the centripetal force you have calculated with the force that the force sensor has
measured and the weight of the hanging cylinder. What message do you get? Explain.

Question 14:
a. What message do you get from this lab?

b. What error sources are there in this experiment?

Final Checkpoint: Please clean your area and have your instructor check your work before
leaving lab.

Activity Explanations Points Mark

Worksheet If you finish all checkpoints, you will get 50%. 50
Group work  All students must be engaged in labatorial activity. 15
 Students need to assign roles to each group member.
 An interactive and practical discussion between group
members is mandatory.
 Interaction with other groups and lab instructor
 If any student is not working in group or the answers to the
questions are different from what the other members of the
group have answered, she/he will not get this 15%.

Individual  This shows the student’s engagement to the lab 15

work activity and how well the student has done the role
assigned to him/her.
 All students must work, discuss and share their
information in the lab.
 All appropriate data collected
 Data are well organized and neatly displayed, including
graphs
 The results of calculations are presented with
appropriate units.
 Understands the sequential nature of the procedure
and the purpose of each stage.
 Suggestions for improvement of lab (e.g. procedure
 and data quality/quantity)
 Logic and reasoning is evident in efforts to relate
results to prediction / hypothesis / theory.
 Related physics concepts are stated correctly.

posttest After checking the last checkpoint with your lab instructor, 5
you will do a posttest exercise. You are supposed to finish the
posttest within 5 minutes.
Reflective Please check the course outline. 15
writing
activity (if
the mark is
available)

If a group leaves without cleaning the table, all the members will lose 10%.
If a student does not have a printed worksheet, she/he will lose 10%.
Food, drink and cell phones are not allowed in the lab, if seen you will lose 25%.
If you are more than 5 minutes late, you will lose 25%. You cannot perform the lab if you are more than
10 minutes late.

Final Mark: