KEY CONCEPTS

CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION

1. UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION

So far we have learned a great deal about linear motion. This section addresses
rotational motion. The simplest kind of rotational motion is an object moving in a perfect
circle at a constant speed. This is called Uniform Circular Motion.

The first step in describing uniform circular motion is finding rotational variables
that are analogous to the linear variables of motion. Consider the circle below:

Δs

Δθ

When an object moves around the circumference of a circle a distance Δs, this distance
corresponds to the angle that is swept out by the motion, Δθ, with the following
relationship

Δs = rΔθ .

This is the definition of an angle in radians. It is very important that the angle be
represented in radians for this relationship to hold. The velocity, or more precisely the
speed, is the rate of change of the arc length Δs, and can be expressed as an equation
involving the rate of change of the angle, Δθ:

Δs Δθ
v= =r = rω
Δt Δt
Δθ
ω=
Δt
 KEY CONCEPTS
CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION

Here ω is the rate at which the angle θ changes and is called the angular velocity or
angular frequency. The velocity vector is tangent to the circle and points in the
direction of the displacement, and is therefore always changing.
The time it takes for the object to complete one complete turn around the circle is
called the period and is denoted by T. The period is equal to the total distance traveled
in one cycle divided by the velocity. Since we know the total distance around a circle
(the circumference), the period can easily be related to either the velocity or the angular
velocity

2πr 2π
T= =
v ω

The frequency, denoted as f, is defined to be one over the period, which is the number
of rotations the object undergoes in a certain time interval. It is related to the angular
velocity through the equations

1 ω
f = =
T 2π
ω = 2πf

Recall that acceleration is the change in velocity with respect to elapsed time.
Since velocity is a vector, any change in its magnitude (speed) or its direction involves
acceleration. Thus far we have focused on cases in which only the magnitude of the
velocity changed, but in uniform circular motion, the magnitude is constant and the
direction changes constantly. This change results from a type of acceleration known as
centripetal acceleration and written as ac. The centripetal acceleration always points
inward, toward the center of the circle of motion, and is given by the equation

v2
ac = .
r

v ac v
ac

Centripetal acceleration is an important concept that is useful in describing many

phenomena, such as the orbits of the moon and planets, and the motion of roller

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 KEY CONCEPTS
CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION
coasters. Whenever working with problems involving circular motion, remember that
centripetal acceleration is indeed acceleration – not a force – and thus belongs on the
ma side of the equation F=ma. Students (and occasionally even instructors) are
sometimes tempted to include a separate centripetal force on the left side of the
equation. However, whatever force it is that holds the object rotating in a circle is in fact
a centripetal force, and no additional separate force by that name is involved.

Centripetal acceleration is also part of another misconception. Passengers on

quickly rotating rides in amusement parks feel like they are being thrown outward.
People like to call this apparent push centrifugal force. In fact the force that people
interpret as being thrown outward is a direct result of Newton’s first law. If at some point
in its rotation a rotating body is released from whatever constrains it to rotate, it would
move in a straight line, which would take it farther from the center of the circle. Thus,
the feeling is one of being thrown outward. In fact force is required to keep a rotating
body moving in a circle. This force – again, no matter what provides it – is the
centripetal force. Centrifugal force is a fictitious force and should never appear in
calculations.

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 KEY CONCEPTS
OSCILLATIONS AND GRAVITATION
2. NEWTON’S LAW OF GRAVITATION

Newton postulated that a force exists between any two particles in the universe
and that the force follows the relationship:

Gm1 m2 ^
F=− r
r2

That is, the force is proportional to each of the masses, and inversely proportional to the
distance between them. If either mass increases the force increases. If the distance
increases, the force decreases. The negative sign indicates that the force is attractive
^
and the unit vector r (read as “r hat”) shows that the force is along the line between the
two masses. Both of these are frequently dropped from the equation when the direction
and vector nature of the force are clearly understood.)

This equation is known as Newton’s Law of Gravitation. Newton used the law
to derive the motion of the moon and planets and then showed that his derivations
agreed with earlier measurements made by others. Newton’s Law of Gravitation
describes a force that acts at a distance, and is independent of the medium between the
objects.

The constant G, known as the universal gravitational constant, was found

experimentally by Henry Cavendish by measuring small gravitational forces that exist
between large metal spheres. G has the value

G = 6.67 × 10 −11 m3 kg ⋅s2 = 6.67 × 10 −11 N ⋅ m2 kg2

Newton’s law applies to individual point masses. For large extended objects, it
still applies if we treat an object like all of its mass is concentrated at its center of mass.
Thus, we can apply the law to planets or galaxies, or even to people by just treating
each object concerned as though its entire mass is concentrated at a single point near
their center.

We can also use the concept of fields to increase our understanding of gravity.
Consider a single particle in space. Without another particle, no gravitational force
exists, but we know that if another particle were placed some distance from the first,
then a force would be felt by the second particle. We define the gravitational field g as
the force divided by the mass experiencing the force

F
g=
m

It is clear from Newton’s Second Law that g is the acceleration of the particle, and in fact
that the gravitational field is simply the acceleration due to gravity. Notice that if we
insert Newton’s Law of gravity for F we get:

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 KEY CONCEPTS
OSCILLATIONS AND GRAVITATION

Gm1 m2 ^
− 2 r Gm
g= r = − 2 1 r^
m2 r

Since the mass m2 cancels, the gravitational field at a point at a distance r is

independent of the mass of the object subjected to the gravitational force at that point.
This is equivalent to Galileo’s statement that all freely falling objects experience the
same acceleration regardless of mass. Because of this independence of mass, the
gravitational field can exist without the presence of a second mass.

We can also define a potential energy due to the gravitational field. We begin by
defining gravitational potential energy as being 0 when two objects are infinitely far
apart. (This may seem odd, but it is in fact the most convenient convention to use for
zero potential energy.) With this convention we find that the potential energy is

−Gm1m2 Gm1m2
U g = − ∫∞
r
2 dr = −
r r

Notice that gravitational potential energy is negative. Because particles have less
energy when they are close together than when they far apart, the potential energy
must be less than 0 (the value when they are infinitely far apart).

5. ORBITS OF PLANETS AND SATELLITES

People have studied the motion of the planets for thousands of years. Newton’s
Law of Gravitation is a powerful tool for describing this motion. Consider a planet
moving in a circular orbit around the sun: gravity provides the centripetal force and we
can set the equations for the forces equal to find equations for the centripetal
acceleration, velocity, and period of a planet.

GM s M p
= M p ac
r2
GM
ac = 2 s
r
v2
ac =
r
GM s
v=
r
2πr
v=
T
⎛ 4π 2 ⎞ 3
T =⎜
2
⎟r
⎝ GM s ⎠

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 KEY CONCEPTS
OSCILLATIONS AND GRAVITATION

Notice that the centripetal acceleration, velocity, and period of the planet are all
independent of the planet’s mass. Thus, if a tiny satellite were at the same distance
from the sun as the earth, it would follow the same orbit as the earth, at the same
speed, and in the same time. The equations above can also be used for moons or
satellites orbiting the earth or other planets by replacing the mass of the sun with the
mass of the planet being orbited.

The energy of an object in orbit can also be determined from what we have
learned. Let m be the mass of the satellite, and M be the mass of the sun or planet
being orbited. We can write the total energy (kinetic plus potential) as

GMm
E = K + U g = 12 mv 2 −
r

To simplify this for a circular orbit, we set the gravitational force equal to the centripetal
force, as above. Alternatively, we may simply substitute in our equation we determined
above for v. Using either approach yields this equation for the total energy:

GMm
E =−
2r

This is just half the potential energy at this point. (The kinetic energy is positive and half
as big as the potential energy so in effect the two partially cancel.) The energy of the
orbiting body is negative because the satellite is bound to the sun or to the planet it is
orbiting. That is it has less energy than if the two objects were infinitely far apart and at
rest. As a result, the satellite can never escape to infinity.

Suppose we want to determine how much energy is required for a rocket to

escape from a planet. Once the rocket is infinitely far away, its potential energy will be
0. At that point it will have escaped, and once it has escaped, its velocity may be 0.
Therefore, the rockets total energy must be at least 0 to escape. (If the total energy is
negative the rocket is still bound to the planet.) Setting this equal to the initial energy
we find

GMm
E = K + U g = 12 mv i − =0
2

ri
K = −Ug
2GM
v=
ri

The subscript i indicates the initial values of v and r. For a rocket escaping from the
earth, the initial radius is just the radius of the earth, ri=Re. Notice that it takes twice as
much kinetic energy to escape from an orbit with a given radius than to orbit the planet

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 KEY CONCEPTS
OSCILLATIONS AND GRAVITATION
at that radius. Also the escape velocity from an orbit of a given radius is equal to the
square root of 2 times the orbital velocity at that radius.

Kesc = 2Korb
vesc = 2 vorb