Connections between Linear and Rotational Quantities

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a wheel of radius R that starts from rest and accelerates with a constant angular acceleration α. The goal is to determine the time t at which the centripetal and tangential accelerations of a point on the rim are equal in magnitude.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss equating centripetal and tangential acceleration, leading to the relationship between angular velocity and angular acceleration. There is exploration of substituting angular velocity in terms of time and questioning the relevance of the period.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively engaging with the problem, exploring different relationships and substitutions. Some guidance has been offered regarding expressing the final answer in terms of α, indicating a productive direction in the discussion.

Contextual Notes

There is mention of constraints from a textbook that does not provide solutions for even-numbered problems, which may affect the participants' confidence in their approaches.

Soniteflash
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Homework Statement


A wheel of radius R starts from rest and accelerates with a constant angular acceleration α about a fixed axis. At what time t will the centripetal and tangential acceleration of a point on the rim have the same magnitude?

Homework Equations


acp=r x ω2

at= r x α

ω= 2π / T → T=2π/ω

The Attempt at a Solution


The problem states that the centripetal and tangential acceleration will have the same magnitude at time t.
So I listed the equation for centripetal acceleration and tangential acceleration and thought that I can put them equal to each other since the magnitudes are the same.

R x ω2 =R x α I canceled out the R

ω2= α Here I thought that since ω equals 2π/T I could substitute it for ω since it has T for period
which relates to time​
(2π/T)2 = α I took the square root of that.

2π/T = √α Solving for T

T = 2π/(√α)

So would this be the time? The AP Physics Book (3rd Edition by James S. Walker doesn't give me a solution since the problem number is even (only gives for odd).
 
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The period isn't important. You have ω2=α. You know that α is constant. You know that ω starts at zero. Can you then find ω as a function of time?
 
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Hmm. So would that be w(final)=w(initial)+ a(alpha) t ?
Only one that doees not invovle angular distance. Hmm so I could substitute w^2 for alpha in the equation.
 
And what do you get?
 
I apologize for replying so late. An assignment turned out to be more time consuming than I thought it would be.
Anyways so if I plug in w2,

I get W(final)=W(initial) + W2 * t W(initial) is zero and solving for t give me

t = W(final)/ W2

Would it be possible to cancel out the W to get 1/W ?
 
Soniteflash said:
Would it be possible to cancel out the W to get 1/W ?
Yes that would be okay. But it may be better to write the final answer in terms of α, since α is a known quantity.
 
How would write it in terms of alpha since I substitute it with w^2
 
substitute the alpha back in?
 
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