UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

A particle is said to be in uniform circular motion when travels in circular path with constant speed.
Although the speed doesnt vary, the object is said to be in acceleration because we define acceleration as
a change in velocity. At each point on the circular path, the velocity is tangential to the particles path.
Therefore the direction of velocity changes at each and every point on the path. Hence theres a change in
velocity and so, the object is said to be acceleration (acceleration is a vector quantity. So even when the
direction of velocity changes, theres acceleration.).
The velocity is always tangential to the circle. The acceleration is always directed radially inwards (proof
in the next section). As it is towards the centre, the acceleration is called centripetal acceleration.
o
c
= :
2
r

Where o
c
the centripetal acceleration and v is the speed of the particle. R is the radius of the circular
path. The circumference of the path is 2R. Hence the time period or the time taken to complete one
revolution by the particle is
I = 2nr:
T is the time period and v is the velocity of the particle.
At this stage we define another quantity known as angular speed. It is the rate at which the object covers
an angle in the circular path. Unit of angular speed is rad/s.
Figure 1

In the given figure 1, angle q is the angle covered by the object in time t. The angle covered id the angle
between its initial and final positions A and B respectively. The angle covered is called the angular
distance.
Therefore angular speed
= 0t
Here weve taken 0 as q. So
= qt
The unit of q is radian (rad). Unit of time is seconds (s). Therefore unit of angular speed in rad/sec.
PROOF THAT CENTRIPETAL ACCELERATION IS TOWARDS
THE CENTRE
Figure 2

Velocity of a particle along a circular path is always tangential to the path. Therefore the velocity vector v
at point p is in the direction of the velocity and is tangential to the path. The angle that v makes with the
vertical is equal to the angle that OP makes with the horizontal.
The components of velocity vector v are represented in figure 3.

: = :
x
t +:

= (-:sin0)t +(:cos0)


From figure two we have
: = [-
:y
p
r
t +[
:x
p
r


Figure3

To find the acceleration, we find the time derivative of the equation:
As the speed is uniform, we consider v/r as constant and these dont change:
o =
J:
Jt
= _
-:Jy
p
rJt
_t +_
:Jx
p
rJt
_
Change in y
p
with respect to time is the velocity component :

and change in x
p
is the velocity
component :
x
. Therefore:
o = _
-:
2
r
cos0_t +_
-:
2
r
sin0_
As :
x
= -:sin0 and :

= :cos0
These vectors and its components are shown in figure 4:

o
2
= _o
x
2
+o

2
=
:
2
r
cos
2
0 +sin
2
0 =
:
2
r

To prove that acceleration is towards the centre we see that:
ton =
o

o
x
=
_-_
:
2
r
] sin0_
_-_
:
2
r
] cos0_
= ton0
Therefore ton = ton0 implies 0 =
Therefore the acceleration is directed towards the centre.