Analyzing Motion in a Circle: Acceleration & Velocity

  • Thread starter Thread starter nikeadidas
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Circle Motion
AI Thread Summary
The discussion focuses on the dynamics of circular motion, particularly how a point mass can maintain a circular path around a heavy body under an acceleration "a". It explores the relationship between linear velocity "u" and the radius "r" of the circular path, emphasizing that the speed must be v = √(ar) for stable circular motion. The conversation also touches on the implications of forces that do not follow a 1/r² dependency, which could lead to unstable orbits. Additionally, the poster seeks to describe circular motion mathematically by using time as a variable to derive the X and Y coordinates. The aim is to find a method to represent circular motion through small time intervals while maintaining the circular relationship defined by X² + Y² = R².
nikeadidas
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
I was thinking about how planets revolve around sun. Although they subscribe a elliptical motion, my question is very similar.
A heavy body exerts a force on a point mass, say with an acceleration of "a". If we take the direction of this acceleration to be X, what is the linear uniform velocity with which it must travel in Y direction, so that the body travels in a perfect circle?..
Can we analyze this without taking any force into consideration, I mean the force exerted could be gravitational or magnetic, it doesn't matter. What matters is the acceleration "a", and the linear uniform velocity "u".
 
Physics news on Phys.org
If the motion of the point mass is such that its direction is perpendicular to the direction of the acceleration and its speed is v=\sqrt{ar} where r is the distance between the heavy body and the point mass, then the point mass will describe a circle of radius r around the heavy body.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_motion

If the force between the two bodies does not have a 1/r^2 dependency, then tiny deviations from circular motion may cause the orbit to be unstable.
 
Thanx..i want to actually try to describe the circular motion with time as variable. X co-ordinate of the motion would be U*t, while Y co-ordinate would be (-a*t^2/2). For a circle, since X^2+Y^2= R^2, how do I proceed to describe the circular motion, such that by only changing the value of t in small intervals, the corresponding values of X&Y co-ordinates would describe a circle.
 
I have recently been really interested in the derivation of Hamiltons Principle. On my research I found that with the term ##m \cdot \frac{d}{dt} (\frac{dr}{dt} \cdot \delta r) = 0## (1) one may derivate ##\delta \int (T - V) dt = 0## (2). The derivation itself I understood quiet good, but what I don't understand is where the equation (1) came from, because in my research it was just given and not derived from anywhere. Does anybody know where (1) comes from or why from it the...
Back
Top