Cycloid

ByPeiChunShih


Acycloidisthecurvetracedbyapointontherimofawheelrollingoveranothercurvelikeastraightlineorafixedcircle.Theshapeof
thecycloiddependsontwoparameters,theradiusrofthewheelandthedistancedofthepointgeneratingthecycloidtothecenterofthe
wheel.

1.Whenr=d,thecycloid(ortheordinarycycloid)hasthefollowingshape:

ClickheretoplaywiththeGSPfile.


2.Whenr>d,itiscalledthecurtatecycloid,whichisthepathtracedoutbyapointontheinsideoftherollingcircle.

 ClickheretoplaywiththeGSPfile.

3.Whenr<d,whichisthepathtracedoutbyapointontheoutsideofthewheeliscalledtheprolatecycloid.

ClickheretoplaywiththeGSPfile.

Next,wearegoingtogeneratetheequationoftheordinarycycloid.



Letstakealookofthediagramabovethatacycloidhasbeenplacedonthexyplane.LetthepointA,withthecoordinatesof(x,y),be
anarbitrarypointonthefirstbluecirclec1.Whentime=0,letthepointAlocatesontheoriginanddenoteitasA0.Alsowedefinea
parametertwhichistheanglethatthebluecirclehasmovedthroughalongthexaxis.Withinasinglehump,trangesfrom0to2 in
radiansmeasure.Asdefinedearlier,theradiusofthebluecircleisdenotedasr.Inotherwords,theangletistheanglethroughwhichthe
radiusrturnsasthebluecirclerollstoanewposition.

Attime=k,thefirstbluecirclec1hasmovedforwardtothesecondbluecircleckslocation.ThextermofthepointAcanbeexpressed
asthehorizontaldistancefromthecenterofthecirclecktooriginminusthehorizontaldistance,AB,ofthepointAtothecenterofthe
circleck.Thehorizontaldistancefromthecenterofthecirclecktoorigin,whichisthelengthofOOk,equalsthearcAOk=2 r*(t/2 )
=traccordingtotheformulaoftheperimeterforacircle.Furthermore,AB=r*sin(t)sincesin(t)=AB/r.Sox=trrsin(t)=r(tsin(t)).

Now,considertheverticalpart,whichistheytermofthepointA.Attimek,whenthebluecircleisinthecirclecksposition,yequals
verticaldistanceofthecentercktooriginminusthedistancefromthecenterofthecirclecktothepointB.Ifwedenotethecenterofthe
circleckasH,thenthedescriptionabovecanbewrittenasy=HOkHB=rr*cos(t)sincecos(t)=HB/r.Therefore,y=rr*cos(t)=
r(1cos(t)).

Themathematicalexpressionofacycloidis

x=r(tsin(t))
y=r(1cos(t))

HereIamgoingtousetheGraphingCalculatortoexplorethecycloidequationderivedearlier.

First,lettheradiusr=1:

Aswecanseefromthegraph,whentrangesbetween0and2 ,theequationformsasinglehumpjustliketheonewegotintheprevious
section.Therefore,astincreasesbythemultipleof2 ,wegottheordinarycycloidofr=d=1liketheonebelow.

Whatsthedifferencebetweencycloidswithdifferentrvalues,say2,3,or?


Aswecanseefromabove,thedifferentvaluesofrallowthecycloidstoexpandortoshrink.However,theydontaffectthecyclesofthe
cycloids.Thatistosay,whentisintherangeof0and2 ,eachcycloidabovecompletesonecycle(onehump)nomatterwhichrvalue
theyhave.

Whatifrisnegativenumbers?

Itisobviousthatbychangingthesignofrthecycloidcanbelocatedinanyofthefourquadrants.

RETURN