Understanding Centripetal Motion: Exploring Acceleration, Factors, and Limits

[dekoi]

Would anyone be kind enough to explain the concept of centripetal (circular) motion to me?

How accelerations are determined (i understand they are non constant);

What factors affect this motion, and/or what factors relate to it.

How do limits relate to this type of acceleration?


Thank you.
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I understand the concept of this sort of acceleration. The speed remains constant throughout the cycles, however, the acceleration changes due tot he change in direction -- and thus a change in velocity.

Howevever, i am not sure how frequency of the cycles affects e.g. tension (of a string, if a string is spinning with an attached rubber stopper for example), how mass affects frequency, and other relationships with frequency.

 

[UrbanXrisis]

Sounds like a direct homework question from the text :uhh:

Try giving it a try and I'm sure you can find all the answers on google

 

[dekoi]

It is not a direct homework question. Although I'm glad you feel my sentence structure seems like it :)

I understand the concept of this sort of acceleration. The speed remains constant throughout the cycles, however, the acceleration changes due tot he change in direction -- and thus a change in velocity.

Howevever, i am not sure how frequency of the cycles affects e.g. tension (of a string, if a string is spinning with an attached rubber stopper for example), how mass affects frequency, and other relationships with frequency.

 

[UrbanXrisis]

Circular motion is characterized by an orbital radius r, a speed v, the mass m of the object which moves in a circle, and the magnitude F of the centripetal force. The force of the Centripetal motion equals (m*v^2)/r

velocity=2*pi*R/T
acceleration=v^2/R
angular frequency= 2pi/T

T is the period

 

[dav2008]

Circular motion is characterized by an orbital radius r, a speed v, the mass m of the object which moves in a circle, and the magnitude F of the centripetal force. The force of the Centripetal motion equals (m*v^2)/r

velocity=2*pi*R/T
acceleration=v^2/R
angular frequency= 2pi/T

T is the period

That's assuming uniform circular motion where the only acceleration is towards the center of the circle.

In non-uniform circular motion (where the speed of the object is accelerating) there is also a tangental component of acceleration that is tangent to the circle of motion. You can then take the vector product of the tangential and centripital acceleration to get the net acceleration.

 

[brewnog]

<snip>
I understand the concept of this sort of acceleration. The speed remains constant throughout the cycles, however, the acceleration changes due tot he change in direction -- and thus a change in velocity.
</snip>

Not quite. For your more simple cases, the speed is constant, but the direction is changing, and as a result the velocity is changing, so the object is accelerating.

The acceleration is NOT changing!

For more complex cases (as previously stated by dav2008) you can have a non-uniform acceleration, but I thought this needed clarifying first.