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
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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
coasters. Whenever working with problems involving circular motion, remember that

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CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION
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.

2. ROTATIONAL KINEMATICS

As shown above position and velocity have the angular counterparts of angle θ
and angular velocity ω. There is also an angular counterpart for acceleration known as
the angular acceleration α, which is simply the rate of change of the angular velocity.
The analogy between linear and angular quantities can be summarized as follows.

x θ
dx dθv
v= ω= =
dt dt r
dv dω a//
a= α= =
dt dt r
Translational Rotational

Please note, the angular acceleration relates to the speed changing part of the
acceleration a//. (This component of acceleration is parallel to the direction of motion.)
The centripetal acceleration ac is always present (even when the angular acceleration is
0), is perpendicular to the velocity, and changes the direction, but not the magnitude of
the velocity.

Because of the close analogy between translational and rotational motion, we

can immediately transfer our constant acceleration equations to describe rotational
motion as follows.

v = v0 + at ω = ω 0 + αt
1 2 1
x = x0 + v0t + at θ = θ 0 + ω 0 t + αt 2
2 2
ω = ω 0 + 2α (θ − θ 0 )
2 2 2
v 2 = v0 + 2a ( x - x0 )

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CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION
Translational Rotational

The rotational kinematics equations are used just like the translational ones. It is
worth noting that ω and α are actually vector quantities just like v and a. (θ is not a
vector because rotations around different axes do not commute. However, this is not a
great concern for our purposes.) The direction of ω and α is just the direction of the axis
about which they rotate. (An axis can actually have either of two directions. To be
more accurate it is the direction about which they rotate counterclockwise.)

3. TORQUE AND ROTATIONAL STATICS

The rotational counterpart to force is torque. Forces cause translational motion

and torques produce rotational motion. Newton’s Second Law states that the net force
acting on an object is equal to the mass (inertia) times the acceleration (change in the
object’s translational motion). This is the translational version of Newton’s Second Law.
There is also a rotational version of Newton’s Second Law, which is the net torque on
an object, written as τ, is equal to the object’s rotational inertia I times its angular
acceleration α. These equations are shown side by side below for comparison.

Newton’s Second Law

F = ma τ = Iα
Translational Rotational

Just as the mass of an object is a measure of how difficult it is to start an object

moving, the rotational inertia I of an object is a measure of how difficult it is to start the
object turning or rotating. The value of I depends not only on the mass, but also on how
the mass is distributed. We will discuss the computation of I momentarily.

Torque depends on three basic quantities: the size of the force applied F, the
location where it is applied r (relative to the pivot point) and the direction in which it is
applied.

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 KEY CONCEPTS
CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION
The formula for torque is
τ = rF sinθ
and its units are Newton-meters or N·m. (Note: One Joule is equal to one N·m, but it is
not appropriate to use Joules for units of torque.)

The formula for torque can be best understood by considering an example.

Consider turning a bolt, door, or merry-go-round. The object moves farther when a
larger force is applied or when it is applied farther from the pivot point.

The angular dependence of torque is perhaps the hardest to understand.

Imagine exerting a force on a bolt or a merry-go-round. If the force is parallel to the
radius vector, then it just pushes or pulls on the pivot point and no rotation results. By
contrast a force applied at an angle that is perpendicular to the radius vector has a great
turning effect and thus creates a large torque.

It is often useful to associate all the angular dependence with either the force or
the position vector, either by finding the component of force perpendicular to the radius,
or by finding the component of radius perpendicular to the force as illustrated below.
Then the torque can be calculated by using the perpendicular component, which
simplifies calculations.

F//
F⊥ F

θ θ

r
r⊥

r//

F⊥ = F sinθ r⊥ = rsinθ

τ = rF sinθ = rF⊥ = r⊥ F

The perpendicular part of the radius is used so often that it has a special name, the
lever arm.

Torque is actually a vector quantity and is simply the cross product of the position
and force vectors. From our previous study of cross products we know that this
operation yields exactly the equation we have been looking at for the magnitude of the
torque.

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 KEY CONCEPTS
CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION
τ =r×F
τ = rF sin θ

The simplest kind of rotational problem is one in which the sum of the torques,
and thus the angular acceleration, is 0:

∑ τ = Iα = 0
α =0

Such problems are called rigid body or equilibrium problems.

4. PROBLEM SOLVING STRATEGY – ROTATIONAL STATICS

When solving equilibrium problems using the following steps is helpful.

1. Double check that it is a static problem, one with no accelerations or

angular accelerations.

2. Choose a pivot point. Often this is obvious because the problem involves
a hinge or a fixed point. If the choice is not obvious pick the pivot point as
being where you have the most unknowns. (This simplifies things
because forces at the pivot point create no torque.)

3. Write an equation for the sum of torques, and equations for the sum of
forces in both the x and y directions. Set these totals equal to 0. Be
careful with your signs.

4. Solve the equations for your unknowns algebraically.

5. Insert numbers to find the final answer.

5. MOMENT OF INERTIA AND ROTATIONAL DYNAMICS

If we want to study the dynamics of a rotating object we need to be able to

calculate I, the moment of inertia. As stated before I depends on both the mass and its
distribution. For a point mass, I is just the mass times its rotational radius squared that
is.

I = mr 2

For several masses this becomes a sum over the various masses and for a continuous
rigid body it becomes an integral.
I = ∑ mi ri2
i

I= ∫ r dm
2

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In each of these equations r is the distance between the point under consideration and
the rotational axis. (This is particularly easy to confuse when working with spheres
where r is often used to describe the distance to the center of the sphere.)

Because I depends on the distance to the axis of rotation, the value of I changes
when the axis of rotation changes. Generally it is most convenient to calculate the
moment of inertia around the center of mass and then use the parallel axis theorem to
find the moment of inertia around the axis of interest.

The parallel axis theorem states that given the moment of inertia I about an
axis that goes through the center of mass of an object, you can find the moment of
inertia about any parallel axis a distance R away, with the formula.

I||−axis = IC .M . + MR 2

Here M is the mass of the entire object.

A brief list of useful moments of inertia is listed below.

Object Moment of Inertia I

Thin Ring MR 2
1
Disk MR2
2
Ring of Finite width
1
2
(
M Rin + Rout
2 2
)
2
Spherical Shell MR2
3
2
Solid Sphere MR2
5
1
Thin Rod About the Center ML2
12
1
Thin Rod about one End ML2
3

Once we know the moment of inertia, torque problems proceed almost identically
to force problems. The same steps used for force problems and for static torque
problems should be applied here, but instead of setting the angular acceleration to 0,
we leave it as a variable to be solved for.

Many rotational dynamics problems can be solved in multiple ways. For

example, objects rolling down a hill can be treated as both translational motion and

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 KEY CONCEPTS
CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION
rotational around the center of mass, or as purely rotational motion around the point of
contact.

7. ROTATIONAL KINETIC ENERGY AND ANGULAR MOMENTUM

There are also rotational counterparts of kinetic energy and momentum. The
counterpart of translational kinetic energy is rotational kinetic energy. The two
equations are written below for comparison.

1 1
K = mv 2 K rot = Iω 2
2 2
Translational Rotational

The applications of rotational kinetic energy are fairly straight forward. It is simply
another form of energy.

The rotational counterpart of momentum is angular momentum (L). It can be

written in a variety of ways, and provides a variety of new applications. For a point
object, the angular momentum is the cross product of the radius and the momentum.

L = r × p = mr × v
L = rpsin θ = mrv sin θ

Notice that angular momentum is a vector quantity, though in introductory courses its
vector nature is rarely important. For a rotating rigid body angular momentum can be
written in a form analogous to the formula for momentum.

p = mv L = Iω
Translational Rotational

The vector nature of angular momentum can get very complex for a rigid body, so we
are suppressing it for both translational and rotational situations here.

Just as force is the rate of change of momentum, torque is the rate of change of
angular momentum.
dp dL
F= τ =
dt dt
Translational Rotational

Thus, just as momentum is conserved in the absence of external forces, angular

momentum is conserved in the absence of external torques. This is known as the
conservation of angular momentum.

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CIRCULAR MOTION AND ROTATION
Like the conservation of linear momentum, the conservation of angular
momentum can be used in collisions (including cases where there are external forces,
but no external torques). It can also be applied in a variety of other examples. For
example both an object moving in a straight line at a constant velocity and an object in
uniform circular momentum have constant angular momentum. A variety of other
motions have constant angular momentum and this can be useful in describing the
orbits of planets.

In another example, and ice-skater pulling her hands in reduces her moment of
inertia and thus her angular velocity increases to maintain constant angular momentum.
Notice this results in an increase in rotational kinetic energy. This energy comes from
the work the skater had to do to pull her hand inward.