How Do Polar Coordinates Explain a Bead's Velocity on a Rotating Wheel?

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SUMMARY

The discussion centers on the application of polar coordinates to describe the velocity of a bead moving along a spoke of a rotating wheel. The bead travels at a constant speed of u m/s while the wheel rotates with a uniform angular velocity of ω radians per second. The velocity of the bead is expressed in polar coordinates as ur + uωtθ, where ur represents the radial component and uωtθ represents the angular component. The participants clarify that this equation is valid only until the bead reaches the rim of the wheel, addressing concerns about the bead's position exceeding the wheel's radius.

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Precipitation
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Note: All bold and underlined variables in this post are base vectors

I was reading the book 'Introduction To Mechanics' by Kleppner and Kolenkow and came across an example I don't quite understand. The example is this: a bead is moving along the spoke of a wheel at constant speed u m/s. The wheel rotates with uniform angular velocity dθ/dt = ω radians per second about an axis fixed in space.
At t = 0 the spoke is along the x axis, and the bead is at the origin. The book then says that the velocity of the bead at time t in polar coordinates is ur + uωtθ. Elaborating, the text says "at time t, the bead is at radius ut on the spoke."

What I don't understand is why u can be used in this calculation without any modification. If the bead is at radius ut at time t then the velocity would increase indefinitely and the spoke would have a position vector longer than the wheel it was attached to, which obviously doesn't make sense. Am I misunderstanding something about polar coordinates/vectors here or am I misunderstanding the example?
 
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Precipitation said:
Note: All bold and underlined variables in this post are base vectors

I was reading the book 'Introduction To Mechanics' by Kleppner and Kolenkow and came across an example I don't quite understand. The example is this: a bead is moving along the spoke of a wheel at constant speed u m/s. The wheel rotates with uniform angular velocity dθ/dt = ω radians per second about an axis fixed in space.
At t = 0 the spoke is along the x axis, and the bead is at the origin. The book then says that the velocity of the bead at time t in polar coordinates is ur + uωtθ. Elaborating, the text says "at time t, the bead is at radius ut on the spoke."

What I don't understand is why u can be used in this calculation without any modification. If the bead is at radius ut at time t then the velocity would increase indefinitely and the spoke would have a position vector longer than the wheel it was attached to, which obviously doesn't make sense. Am I misunderstanding something about polar coordinates/vectors here or am I misunderstanding the example?

Obviously, eventually the bead will reach the rim of the wheel. That equation is only valid until then.
 
PeroK said:
Obviously, eventually the bead will reach the rim of the wheel. That equation is only valid until then.

That makes sense. I was conceptualising it as the bead reversing direction as the wheel completed successive revolutions. Thanks for the help.
 

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