CHAPTER 3

ROTATIONAL
AND
CIRCULAR MOTION

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

A body is in uniform circular motion if it moves in a circle with
constant speed.
In this case, the magnitude of the velocity remains constant
but the direction of the velocity continuously changes as the
object moves around the circle.
The direction of the velocity is tangential to the circle, that is,
perpendicular to the radius.
The net force acting upon such an object is directed towards
the center of the circle.
Fc

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

ANGULAR QUANTITIES
i) Angular Displacement ,
The angle subtended by the arc length.
Unit : radian ( rad )

1 rev = 360 = 2 rad

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

ANGULAR QUANTITIES
ii) Angular velocity,
Rate of change of angular displacement
Angular velocity is a vector quantity
Unit : rad/s

The average angular speed (avg)

t t
t
f

avg

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

ANGULAR QUANTITIES
iii) Angular acceleration ,

Rate of change of angular velocity

Unit : rad/s2
d
dt
d d
d 2
( ) 2
dt dt
dt

Average angular acceleration

f i
avg

t
tf ti

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

Relationship between Linear and Rotational Motion

A particle at P is located at a distance r from the rotation axis at

O moves through an arc length s on a circular path of radius r.

s r

Point P has a tangential velocity,v that

is always tangent to the circular path of
radius r.

From s r
ds
d
r
dt
dt

v r

( r is constant )

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

Relationship between Linear and Rotational Motion

Radial/centripetal acceleration, ac

v2
ac
r 2
r

If P moves faster, it experiences

tangential acceleration and also
angular acceleration, at

From

v r ,

dv
d
r
( r is constant )
dt
dt

a t r

UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

CENTRIPETAL FORCE

When a body is in circular motion, it accelerates towards the centre of the

circle.
According to Newtons Second Law, F = ma, the body is able to move in
a circle due to the action of a resultant force in the direction of the
acceleration, which is towards the centre of the circle.
Centripetal force,
F = ma
F=mv
F = m r
F=
No work is done by the centripetal force because
it is perpendicular to the direction of the displacement.

Example 1 :
You are on a rotating space station that has a radius of 100 m, and it
is rotating at a velocity of 2 m/s. If your mass is 50 kg, determine
a) the force that acting upon you.
b) your the angular velocity.
Solution :

ROTATIONAL MOTION WITH

UNIFORM ANGULAR ACCELERATION
When the angular velocity increases uniformly from 0 to in
time t, then

t
0

(1)

The angular displacement at time, t :

1
( 0 ) t
2

(2)
10

Substitute (1) into (2) :

1
( 0 0 t) t
2

1
0t t 2
2

(3)

From equation (1) & (2) :

2
( 0 )( 0 ) t (
)
t

0 2
2

(4)
11

The equation in rotational kinematics have their equivalents

in linear motion as shown :

12

Example 2
A wheel accelerates uniformly from 600 rpm to 2700 rpm in 6 s.
Calculate :
(a) the angular acceleration
(b)the angular displacement
Solution :

13

Example 3
A wheel rotates with a constant angular acceleration of 2.5 rad s-2.
At time t =0, the angular velocity of the wheel is 3.0 rad s-1.
Determine :
(a) The angle turned through by the wheel in the first 2 s.
(b)angular velocity at t = 2s.
Solution :

14

Example 4
A particle travels in a horizontal circle of radius 50 cm with angular
velocity 120 rpm. Its angular velocity increases at a constant rate to
180 rpm in 10s. At the 10th second determine :
(a) the angular acceleration
(b)the tangential linear acceleration
(c)magnitude of the total acceleration.
Solution :

15

Solution :

ROTATIONAL WORK AND

KINETIC ENERGY

The kinetic energy of a rotating object is analogous to linear kinetic

energy and can be expressed in terms of the moment of inertia and
angular velocity.
The total kinetic energy of an extended object can be expressed as
the sum of the translational kinetic energy of the center of mass and
the rotational kinetic energy about the center of mass.
For a given fixed axis of rotation, the rotational kinetic energy can be
expressed in the form :

KERotational

1
I 2
2

ROTATIONAL WORK AND

KINETIC ENERGY
Rotational Inertia (Moment of Inertia ), I

In linear motion, the inertia of a body is its resistance to change from

its state of rest or motion.
The quantity in rotational motion that is analogous to inertia in linear
motion is moment of inertia.
The moment of inertia of a rigid body is its resistance to change
from its state of rest or rotational motion.
(the tendency of a body to resist change in its angular velocity )
The moment of inertia of a rigid body about an axis of rotation is
defined as the sum of the products of the mass and the square of
the distance from the axis of rotation of particles that make up the
rigid body.

ROTATIONAL WORK AND

KINETIC ENERGY
Rotational Inertia (Moment of Inertia ), I

Moment of Inertia, I =
=

In general, I = mr2

Factors that affect the moment of inertia of a rigid body are:

Mass of the body
Distribution of the mass or shape of the body
The position of the axis of rotation

ROTATIONAL WORK AND

KINETIC ENERGY
Work - Energy Principle

The expressions for rotational and linear kinetic energy can be

developed in a parallel manner from the work energy principle.
Consider the following parallel between a constant torque exerted
on a flywheel with moment of inertia I and a constant force exerted
on a mass m, both starting from rest.

ROTATIONAL WORK AND

KINETIC ENERGY

The speed of the other particles in the rigid body are : v = r

Rotational kinetic energy

of the rigid body

=
=
=
=

sum of the kinetic energy

of n particles

ROTATIONAL WORK AND

KINETIC ENERGY
When a cylinder of mass m rolls on a horizontal surface, it has both translational
kinetic energy and rotational kinetic energy.

v = r

Total kinetic energy = translational kinetic energy + rotational kinetic energy

1
1
mv 2 I 2
2
2
1
1 1
v
mv 2 ( mr 2 ) ( ) 2
2
2 2
r
3
mv 2
4

Example 5
Find the rotational kinetic energy of the earth due to its daily
rotation on its axis. Assume it to be a uniform sphere,
(m = 5.98 x 1024 kg , r = 6.37 x 106m)
Solution :

24

Solution :

25

Example 6
A solid cylinder initially rolls on a horizontal table climbs up an n
inclined plane. If the horizontal speed is 5ms-1, the angle of
inclination is 370 and ignoring friction, determines the maximum
distance made by the cylinder up the inclined plane.

370

26

Solution :

27

Example 7
A uniform sphere of radius r and mass m starts from rest at the top
of an incline of height h and rolls down . How fast is the sphere
moving when it reaches the bottom? (assume that it rolls smoothly
and that friction energy losses are negligible)
Hint : originally, the sphere has gravitational potential energy then
it is changed to kinetic energy of translation and rotation.

28

Solution :

29

NEWTONS LAW OF UNIVERSAL

GRAVITATION

If the planets are orbiting the sun , what force is keeping them in
orbit?
What force keeps the moon in its orbit?
Could the force of gravity be universal?

Newtons realization was

that the force must come
from the Earth.
He further realized that this
force must be what keeps
the Moon in its orbit.

NEWTONS LAW OF UNIVERSAL

GRAVITATION
Newtons proposed his law of universal gravitation, which we can state
as follows:
Any two objects attract each other with a gravitational force which is
proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional
to the square of the distance between them.
The force acts in the direction of the line connecting the centers of
the masses.
The magnitude of the gravitational force, F can be written as :

m1 m2
F G 2
r

NEWTONS LAW OF UNIVERSAL

GRAVITATION

Where m1 and m2 are the masses of the two particles, r is the distance
between them, and G is a universal constant which must be measured
experimentally and has the same numerical value for all objects.
The accepted value of G = 6.67 x 10-11 N m2 / kg2

NEWTONS LAW OF UNIVERSAL

GRAVITATION
Consider an example of a satellites in circular orbits :

m E mS
F G 2
r
F Fcentripetal
Thus ;

GmE
v
r

mS v 2
r

Example 8
Determine the speed of the Hubble Space Telescope orbiting at a
height of 598 km above the earths surface.
(Given radius of earth = 6380 km, mass of earth = 5.98 x 1024kg)
Solution :

34

Example 9
Determine the net force on the Moon (mM = 7.35 x 1022kg) due to
the gravitational attraction of both the Earth (mE = 5.98 x 1024kg)
and the Sun (mS = 1.99 x 1030 kg). Assuming they are at right
angles to each other as in figure below. (Given; rME = 3.84 x 105
km, rMS = 1.50 x 108 km)

35

Solution :

36

NEWTONS LAW OF UNIVERSAL

GRAVITATION
Weight and Gravitational Force
Weight is the gravitational force acting on a body mass.
Mass is constant for an object but weight depends on the location of the
object.
For example, if we transported the preceding object of mass m to the
surface of the Moon, the gravitational acceleration would change
because the radius and mass of the Moon both differ from those of the
Earth.
Thus, our object has mass m both on the surface of the Earth and on
the surface of the Moon, but it will weigh much less on the surface of the
Moon because the gravitational acceleration there is a factor of 6 less
than at the surface of the Earth.
amoon = 0.00272 m/s2

aearth = 9.8 m/s2

KEPLERS LAW
Introduction
More than a half century before Newton proposed his three laws of
motion and his law of universal gravitation, the German astronomer
Johannes Kepler had worked out a detailed description of the motion of
the planets about the Sun and now we refer to as Keplers laws of
planetary motion.

KEPLERS LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

Keplers First Law
The path of each planet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at
one focus.
An ellipse is a closed curve such
that the sum of the distances
from any point P on the curve to
two fixed points ( called the foci,
F1 and F2) remains constant.
This is the sum of the distances
F1P + F2P is the same for all
point on the curve.

KEPLERS LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

Keplers Second Law
Each planet moves so that an imaginary line drawn from the Sun to
the planet sweeps out equal areas in equal periods of time.
The two shaded regions have
equal areas.
The planet moves from point 1 to
point 2 in the same time as it
takes to move from point 3 to
point 4.
Planets moves fastest in that part
of their orbit where they are
closest to the Sun
(Exaggerated scale)

KEPLERS LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

Keplers Third Law
The ratio of the squares of the periods T of any two planets revolving
about the Sun is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their mean distances s
from the Sun.

T 1 2 s1 3
( ) ( )
T2
s2

KEPLERS LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

KEPLERS LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

KEPLERS LAW OF PLANETARY MOTION

Example 10
Where is the Mars?
Mars period (its year) was noted by Kepler to be about 687 days (Earth
days), which is (687 d/365 d) = 1.88 yr.
Determine the distance of Mars from the Sun using the Earth as a
reference.
(Period of the earth TE= 1 yr, distance of earth from the sun = 1.5 x 1011 m)
Solution :

45

Example 11
Determine the mass of the Sun given the Earths distance from the Sun
as rES = 1.5 x 1011 m and period of the earth TE= 1 yr.
Solution :

46