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Tangential Acceleration of uniform motion

  1. Jun 15, 2008 #1

    student 1

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    How do you find the Magnitude of tangential acceleration if you have uniform circular motion? I know the formula for Tangential Acceleration; however I have no clue how to apply it to determine the Magnitude?
     
    student 1, Jun 15, 2008
  2. jcsd
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  3. Jun 15, 2008 #2

    Cyrus

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    Its just the magnitude of the vector. It should just be V^2/r.
     
    Cyrus, Jun 15, 2008
  4. Jun 16, 2008 #3

    tonyh

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    The formula in the previous post is incorrect (that's the magnitude of the *radial* component of the acceleration). What formula are you using for tangential acc?
     
    tonyh, Jun 16, 2008
  5. Jun 16, 2008 #4

    Doc Al

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    Staff: Mentor

    Do you mean centripetal acceleration? If something is performing uniform circular motion, its tangential acceleration is zero. Or do you mean non-uniform circular motion, which will have a tangential component of acceleration?
     
    Doc Al, Jun 16, 2008
  6. Jun 16, 2008 #5

    student 1

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    No, I mean tangential acceleration. That's probably the answer I'm looking for I just have to know how to express that the acceleration would be zero if it was uniform circular motion using words and one equation.
     
    student 1, Jun 16, 2008
  7. Jun 16, 2008 #6

    student 1

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    Im suppose to use At=[dv/dt].
     
    student 1, Jun 16, 2008
  8. Jun 16, 2008 #7

    Doc Al

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    OK, where v is the speed, not the velocity vector. For uniform circular motion, dv/dt = 0.
     
    Doc Al, Jun 16, 2008
  9. Jun 16, 2008 #8

    rcgldr

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    Tangental acceleration can still exist on a object traveling in a circular path. The centripetal force just needs to change with respect to speed2, so it always equals m |v|2 / r.

    The magnitude of tangental acceleration would be the magnitude of angular acceleration times r = |angular acceleration| x r.
     
    Last edited: Jun 16, 2008
    rcgldr, Jun 16, 2008
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