Circular Motion and Gravitation

What is Circular Motion ? In physics, circular motion is a rotation along a circle : a circular path or a circular orbit. It can be uniform, that is, with constant angular rate of rotation, or non-uniform, that is, with a changing rate of rotation. The rotation around a fixed axis of a three-dimensional body involves circular motion of its parts. We can talk about circular motion of an object if we ignore its size, so that we have the motion of a point mass in a plane. WHAT IS GRAVITATION? Gravitation, or gravity, is a natural phenomenon in which objects with mass attract one another. In everyday life, gravitation is most familiar as the agent that gives weight to objects with mass and causes them to fall to the ground when dropped. Gravitation causes dispersed matter to coalesce, thus accounting for the existence of the Earth, the Sun, and most of the macroscopic objects in the universe. Gravitation is responsible for keeping the Earth and the other planets in their orbits around the Sun; for keeping the Moon in its orbit around the Earth; for the formation of tides; for natural convection, by which fluid flow occurs under the influence of a density gradient and gravity; for heating the interiors of forming stars and planets to very high temperatures; and for various other phenomena observed on Earth. - Another kind of motion that can be explained by applying the principles of kinematics and Newtons Laws of Motion of bodies in circle and also of those which are approximated to be moving in circle. What do you think is that kind of motion ? UNIFORM CIRCULAR MOTION * Uniform circular motion describes the motion of a body traversing a circular path at constant speed. The distance of the body from the axis of rotation remains constant at all times. Though the body's speed is constant, its velocity is not constant: velocity, a vector quantity, depends on both the body's speed and its direction of travel. This changing velocity indicates the presence of an acceleration; this centripetal acceleration is of constant magnitude and directed at all times towards the axis of rotation. This acceleration is, in turn, produced by a centripetal force which is also constant in magnitude and directed towards the axis of rotation.

Formula :

uniform speed V= 2r/t The value of is constant : = 3.14

EXAMPLE: - A bicycle racer rides with uniform speed around a circular track 30 m in diameter in 6 seconds. What is his speed ? GIVEN : Diameter 30 m Time 6 seconds Find : the uniform speed V Solution : v = 2r/T = 2(3.14)15 m/6 sec = 2(47.1) m/6 sec = 94.2 m/6 sec = 15.7 m/s