View Full Version : Circular motion basics
coldfusion
Dec20-04, 07:39 AM
How many accelerations are there in circular motion ?
1) Angular
2) Centripetal
3) Linear
is this right ?
and if a particle in accelerated motion always experiences an intertial force,
does an inertial force act opposite to linear acceleration ?
I am assuming that the Linear Acceleration is the acceleration from the center of mass.
Gokul43201
Dec22-04, 12:20 AM
Circular motion is two dimensional. There can only be two independent accelerations.
Your (1) and (3) are related to each other through the radius.
HallsofIvy
Dec22-04, 07:09 AM
If an object is moving in a circle at a constant speed, then the only acceleration is "centripetal", toward the center of the circle. If the speed is changing (i.e. the length of the velocity vector is not constant) then there will also be a component of acceleration tangent to the circle- which is what I think you mean by "linear acceleration". In that case the angular velocity would also change: there will be angular acceleration but, as Gokul43201 said, that is proportional to the linear acceleration, they are not independent.
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