Centripetal Acceleration increases with greater radius?

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
1 reply · 4K views
eurekameh
Messages
209
Reaction score
0
Does centripetal acceleration increase with a greater radius?
According to a = v^2/R, it does not.
According to a = (omega)^2R, it does.
So which is it?
I think that as you go further out to a greater radius, speed also increases, and so a = v^2/R would also make sense in terms of a greater centripetal acceleration with a greater radius.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Careful—you forgot that [itex]v=r \omega[/itex]. Your two expressions are equivalent.