Circular Motion 6.

2
\

You have learned several important terms used to describe circular motion:
• Rotate means to spin around an internal axis. Example: Earth makes one complete rotation every 24 hours.
• Revolve means to travel in a circle around an external axis. Example: Earth makes one complete revolution
around the sun each year.
• Angular speed describes how fast something rotates. Degrees per minute and rotations per minute (rpm) are
two common units of angular speed.
rotations or degrees
Angular speed =
time

• The radius is the distance from the axis of rotation to any point on the outside of the circle.
• Circumference describes the distance traveled during one revolution.
Circumference = 2 , where is the radius of the circle.

• Linear speed describes how fast a revolving object travels. Linear speed is often given in meters per second.
2
Linear speed ( ) = where is the radius and is the time for one revolution.

1. A merry-go-round makes 18 rotations in 3 minutes. What is its angular speed in rpm?

18 rotations
Angular speed = = 6 rpm
3 minutes

2. A coin rolls across the floor at an angular speed of 4 rotations per second. What is its speed in degrees per
second? Hint: One full rotation equals 360 degrees.
4 360
Angular speed = = 1440 /second
1 second

3. A child sits two meters from the center of a merry-go-round. How far does she travel during one revolution?
Circumference = 2 (2 meters) = 12.6 meters

4. If the merry-go-round makes one revolution in 10 seconds, what is the child’s linear speed?
2 (2 meters)
Linear speed = = 1.3 m/sec
10 seconds
Page 2 of 2

6.2

1. A compact disc is spinning with an angular speed of 3.3 rotations per second.
a. What is its angular speed in degrees per second?
b. What is its angular speed in rotations per minute (rpm)?

2. A compact disc has a radius of 6 centimeters.

a. What is its circumference in meters?
b. If the cd rotates 4 times per second, what is the linear speed of a point on the outer edge of the cd? Give
your answer in meters per second.
c. What is the linear speed of a point 3 centimeters from the center of the cd? (Assume the angular speed
has not changed).

3. Challenge! When a computer reads a cd-rom, the “read-head” must read the data at a constant linear
velocity. That means the same amount of information must pass by the “read-head” each second no matter
what part of the cd is being read. The cd spins at different angular speeds to keep the linear speed the same.
If the “read-head” moves from reading data at the inner edge of the cd to read data at the outer edge, will the
cd need to spin faster or slower to maintain a constant linear velocity?

4. Rolling is a combination of linear and rotating motion. When a wheel makes one full rotation, it moves
forward a distance equal to the wheel’s circumference.
a. A child’s first bicycle has 12-inch tires. These tires have a 6-inch radius. How far does the bicycle move
forward each time the wheel makes one complete rotation? Give your answer in meters.
(1 inch = 0.022 meters)
b. A woman’s ten-speed bicycle has 27-inch tires (13.5-inch radius). How far does this bicycle move
forward each time the wheel makes one complete rotation? Give your answer in meters.
c. How many times does the child’s bicycle tire have to rotate for the bicycle to travel 1 kilometer?
d. How many times does the woman’s bicycle tire have to rotate for the bicycle to travel 1 kilometer?
Universal Gravitation 6.3

The law of universal gravitation allows you to calculate the gravitational force between two objects from their
masses and the distance between them. The law includes a value called the gravitational constant, or “G.” This
value is the same everywhere in the universe. Calculating the force between small objects like grapefruits or huge
objects like planets, moons, and stars is possible using this law.

What is the law of universal gravitation?

The force between two masses m1 and m2 that are separated by a distance r is given by:

So, when the masses m1 and m2 are given in kilograms and the distance r is given in meters, the force has the
unit of newtons. Remember that the distance r corresponds to the distance between the center of gravity of
the two objects.

For example, the gravitational force between two spheres that are touching each other, each with a radius of
0.3 meter and a mass of 1,000 kilograms, is given by:

– 11 2 2 1,000 kg 1,000 kg-

-------------------------------------------------
F = 6.67 10 N-m kg 2
= 0.000185 N
0.3 m + 0.3 m

Note: A small car has a mass of approximately 1,000 kilograms. Try to visualize this much mass compressed
into a sphere with a diameter of 0.3 meters (30 centimeters). If two such spheres were touching one another,
the gravitational force between them would be only 0.000185 newtons. On Earth, this corresponds to the
weight of a mass equal to only 18.9 milligrams. The gravitational force is not very strong!
Page 2 of 2

6.3

Answer the following problems. Write your answers using scientific notation.

1. Calculate the force between two objects that have masses of 70 kilograms and 2,000 kilograms separated by
a distance of 1 meter.

2. Calculate the force between two touching grapefruits each with a radius of 0.08 meters and a mass of 0.45
kilograms.

3. Calculate the force between one grapefruit as described above and Earth. Earth has a mass of
5.9742 1024 kg and a radius of 6.3710 106 meters. Assume the grapefruit is resting on Earth’s surface.

4. A man on the moon with a mass of 90 kilograms weighs 146 newtons. The radius of the moon is 1.74 106
meters. Find the mass of the moon.
m
5. For m = 5.9742 1024 kilograms and r = 6.378 106 meters, what is the value given by this equation: G ---2- ?
r
a. Write down your answer and simplify the units.
b. What does this number remind you of?
c. What real-life values do m and r correspond to?

6. The distance between Earth and its moon is 3.84 108 meters. Earth’s mass is m = 5.9742 1024 kilograms
and the mass of the moon is 7.36 1022 kilograms. What is the force between Earth and the moon?

7. A satellite is orbiting Earth at a distance of 35 kilometers. The satellite has a mass of 500 kilograms. What is
the force between the planet and the satellite?

8. The mass of the sun is 1.99 1030 kilograms and its distance from Earth is 150 million kilometers
(150 109 meters). What is the gravitational force between the sun and Earth?