LGB 10203 / ENGINEERING SCIENCE

CHAPTER 3 ROTATIONAL AND CIRCULAR MOTION

CHAPTER 3 ROTATIONAL AND CIRCULAR MOTION

A. Uniform Circular Motion

A body is in uniform circular motion if it moves in a circle with
constant speed. The magnitude of the velocity remains constant in
this case, but the direction of the velocity continuously changes as
the object moves around the circle.
The direction of the velocity is tangential to the circle, that is,
perpendicular to the radius.
The net force acting upon such an object is directed towards the
center of the circle.
Centripetal Acceleration:
- Although the speed of a particle in uniform circular motion is
constant, it has acceleration because the direction of the velocity
is constantly changing. Since acceleration is the rate of change of
velocity, the particles accelerate.
- Centripetal acceleration,
a=v
Or a = r
Or

a=

Centripetal Force:
- When a body is in circular motion, it accelerates towards the
centre of the circle.
- According to Newtons Second Law, F = ma, the body is able to
move in a circle due to the action of a resultant force in the
direction of the acceleration, which is towards the centre of the
circle.
- Centripetal force,
F = ma
F=mv
F = m r
F=

- No work is done by the centripetal force because it is perpendicular to the direction of

the displacement.

B. Angular Displacement, Velocity and Acceleration

Angular displacement,
- When the particle moves from A to B, the radius rotate through a
small angle . The angle is known as the angular
displacement of the particle in the time interval t.
- An objects angular displacement is the difference in its final
and initial angles.
- = f i
; S.I. unit: radians (rad).

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Angular Velocity,
- The angular velocity of the particle is defined as the rate of change of angular
displacement.
- Angular velocity is a vector quantity.
- The average angular speed (av) of a rotating rigid body during the time interval t is
defined as the angular displacement divided by t.
-

av

f i
t f ti

; S.I.unit: radian per second (rad/s).

C. Angular Motion equations and Tangential Quantities

The equations for uniform linear acceleration have rotational analogue which are:

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CHAPTER 3 ROTATIONAL AND CIRCULAR MOTION

Example 3.1
The initial angular velocity of a body which rotates with uniform angular acceleration is 11 rads-1. After
2.0 s, its angular velocity is 19 rads-1. Calculate
a) The angular acceleration
b) The angular displacement after 2.0 s
Solutions;
a) Using

= +

rad

= 4.0 rad s-2

b) Using = +

= (11)(2)+
= 30 rad

(4) ()

D. Rotational Work and Kinetic Energy

The kinetic energy of a rotating object is analogous to linear kinetic energy and can be
expressed in terms of the moment of inertia and angular velocity.
The total kinetic energy of an extended object can be expressed as the sum of the
translational kinetic energy of the center of mass and the rotational kinetic energy about the
center of mass. For a given fixed axis of rotation, the rotational kinetic energy can be
expressed in the form

The expressions for rotational and linear kinetic energy can be developed in a parallel
manner from the work-energy principle.
Consider the following parallel between a constant torque exerted on a flywheel with
moment of inertia I and a constant force exerted on a mass m, both starting from rest.

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The speed of the other particles in the rigid body are

=
Rotational kinetic energy of the rigid body = sum of the kinetic energy of n particles
1
1
1
1
1
= 2 1 12 + 2 2 22 + 2 3 32 + 2 4 42 + . + 2 2
1
2

= 1 12 2 +

1
2 2
2 2 2

1
2 2
2 3 3

1
2 2
2 4 4

1
2

+ . + 2 2

= 2 (1 12 + 2 22 + 3 32 + 4 42 + . + 2 )2

(I =mr2 ; v=r)

When a cylinder of mass m rolls on a horizontal surface, it has both translational kinetic
energy and rotational kinetic energy.

v = r
r

Total kinetic energy = translational kinetic energy + rotational kinetic energy

1
2

1
2
2

1 1

= 2 +

(I =

1
2

v
r

mr 2 , = )

= 2 2 + 2 (2 mr 2 ) ( )2

=
Example 3.2
A solid cylinder initially rolls on a horizontal table climbs up an n inclined plane. If the horizontal speed is
5ms-1, the angle of inclination is 370 and ignoring friction, determines the maximum distance made by
the cylinder up the inclined plane.

h
v

370

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Solutions:
Apply conservation of mechanical energy to initial and final positions.
Total mechanical energy = KE (linear) + KE (rotation) + PE

Initial total energy, + +

Final total energy, 0 + 0 + mgh
Using conservation of energy,

0 + 0 + mgh = +
( =

, =

mgh = + ( ) ()
h=

= .

= 1.91 m

Distance along the plane, s = =

.
.

= 3.19 m

E. Rotational Inertia
In linear motion, the inertia of a body is its resistance to change from its state of rest or
motion.
The quantity in rotational motion that is analogous to inertia in linear motion is moment of
inertia. The moment of inertia of a rigid body is its resistance to change from its state of rest
or rotational motion.
The moment of inertia of a rigid body about an axis of rotation is defined as the sum of the
products of the mass and the square of the distance from the axis of rotation of particles
that make up the rigid body.
Moment of Inertia, I = (1 12 + 2 22 + 3 32 + 4 42 + . + 2 )
= =
Factors that affect the moment of inertia of a rigid body are:
- Mass of the body
- Distribution of the mass or shape of the body
- The position of the axis of rotation

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CHAPTER 3 ROTATIONAL AND CIRCULAR MOTION

F. Newtons Law of Gravity

Newtons proposed his law of universal gravitation, which we can state as follows:
Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is
proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them. This force acts along the line joining the
two particles.
The magnitude of the gravitational force, F can be written as

Where m1 and m2 are the masses of the two particles, r is the distance between them, and G
is a universal constant which must be measured experimentally and has the same numerical
value for all objects.
The accepted value today is G = 6.67 x 10-11 N m2 / kg2

Example 3.3
Determine the net force on the Moon (mM = 7.35 x 1022kg) due to the gravitational attraction of both
the Earth (mE = 5.98 x 1024kg) and the Sun (mS = 1.99 x 1030 kg). Assuming they are at right angles to each
other as in figure below. (Given; rME = 3.84 x 105 km, rMS = 1.50 x 108 km)

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CHAPTER 3 ROTATIONAL AND CIRCULAR MOTION

G. Weight and Gravitational Force

Weight is the gravitational force acting on a body mass. Transforming Newton's Second Law
related to the weight as a force due to gravity can be expressed as
W=mg
where
w = weight
m = mass (kg)
g = acceleration of gravity (m/s2)

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CHAPTER 3 ROTATIONAL AND CIRCULAR MOTION

The handling of mass and weight depends on the systems of units that is used. The most
common systems of units are the
- International System SI
- British Gravitational System BG
- English Engineering System - EE

H. Keplers Law

More than a half century before Newton proposed his three laws of motion and his law of
universal gravitation, the German astronomer Johannes Kepler had worked out a detailed
description of the motion of the planets about the Sun and now we refer to as Keplers laws of
planetary motion.
Keplers Law of planetary motion:
1. Keplers First Law: the path of each planet about the Sun is an ellipse with the Sun at one
focus.

2. Keplers Second Law: Each planet moves so that an imaginary line drawn from the Sun to
the planet sweeps out equal areas in equal periods of time.

3. Keplers Third Law: The ratio of the squares of the periods T of any two planets revolving
about the Sun is equal to the ration of the cubes of their mean distances s from the Sun.

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