( P.19) Tangential Acceleration

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the tangential acceleration of a circular disk rotating at a constant angular speed. Participants are trying to determine the nature of the acceleration being asked in the problem, which includes considerations of tangential and centripetal acceleration.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Some participants attempt to clarify whether the problem is asking for tangential or centripetal acceleration, with differing interpretations of the term "acceleration." Others explore the implications of constant angular speed on angular acceleration.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively questioning the definitions and assumptions related to the types of acceleration involved. There is a mix of interpretations regarding the nature of the acceleration being requested, with some guidance provided on the necessity of converting angular speed to radians for calculations.

Contextual Notes

There is some confusion regarding the specific type of acceleration being requested in the problem, as well as the need for unit conversions in the context of angular measurements.

gcombina
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A circular disk of radius 0.010 m rotates with a constant angular speed of 5.0 rev/s. What is the acceleration of a point on the edge of the disk?
answer is 9.9 m/s ^2

My attempt:
The problem is asking me for the tangential acceleration of the disk.
At = rα

so to solve the above equation i need the value of α

the problem just gave me the velocity , so can i use that velocity in lie of acceleration? why not!?
 
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gcombina said:
A circular disk of radius 0.010 m rotates with a constant angular speed of 5.0 rev/s. What is the acceleration of a point on the edge of the disk?
answer is 9.9 m/s ^2

My attempt:
The problem is asking me for the tangential acceleration of the disk.
At = rα

If the angular speed is constant, then α (angular acceleration) is zero, right?

(The derivative of a constant is zero.)
(In other words, angular speed is not changing.)

Therefore the tangential acceleration is zero.

gcombina said:
The problem is asking me for the tangential acceleration of the disk. 
The question is not asking for the tangential acceleration, it just asked for the acceleration.What other acceleration could it be talking about?EDIT:
It could be asking for tangential acceleration, but that's not what it's specifically asking for, it's just asking for whatever acceleration there is (whether it's in the tangent direction or some other direction)
 
Last edited:
it is asking for LINEAR acceleration right?
or CENTRIPETAL acceleration
I would totally say that because the disk is in constant speed and the acceleration of the whole disk is 0 m/s^2 but the answer is 9.9 m/s^2
 
Last edited:
gcombina said:
it is asking for LINEAR acceleration right?

It's asking for centripetal acceleration :)
 
aha,OK let me see now...
 
so I got for centripetal acceleration = rw^2
I converted 5.0 rev to rads so I got 31.414=5 rad/s

then I plug in

= (0.010 m) (31.415 /s)^2
= 9.9 m/s^2

Question
When I do the convertion from 5.0 to radians. Do I need to convert that 5.0 rev to radians??

for example i had
= (5.0 rev/s) (2 pi radians/1 rev)
= (5.0 rev/s) [(2) (3.1415 rad/1 rev)]
= (5.0 rev/s) (6.283 rad/1 rev)
= 31.415 rad/s (final answer) (do I really need to put say 1 rev = 2 pi rad?
 
gcombina said:
Question
When I do the convertion from 5.0 to radians. Do I need to convert that 5.0 rev to radians??

Yes. The centripetal acceleration formula is:

a_c=\frac{v^2}{r}=\frac{(ωr)^2}{r}=rω^2

If ω was measured in anything other than radians (like revolutions) then ωr=v would not be true.
(and so the above formula would not simplify to a_c=rω^2)
 

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