TWO DIMENSIONAL POLAR FORM OF THE EQUATION

OF MOTION
In plane polar coordinates , the position of a particle is specified by a radius
vector r and polar angle θ which are related to x and y through the relations
x= rcos θ
y=rsin θ
provided the two coordinate frames have the same origin and x- axis and the initial
line coincide.The direction of the radius vector is known as the radial direction and
that perpendicular to it in the direction of increasing θ is called the tranverse
direction

Suppose that the motion of a particle is restricted to xy-plane, and (r, θ) are the
polar coordinates of the particle the radial and transverse components of its
acceleration are given by

ar=d2r/dt2 – r(dθ/dt)2

and aθ =dr/dt.dθ/dt + r d2θ/dt2

If r^ and s^ are the radial and tranverse unit vectors. Then following equation

mdv/dt=ma=F

can be written as m{ d2r/dt2 –r (dθ/dt)2 }r^+ m(dr/dt. dθ/dt+r d2θ/dt2)s^=Fr r^

+Fθ s^,

where Fr , Fθ stand for the radial and transverse components of the force F.

Hence
m{ d2r/dt2- r(dθ/dt)2 }=Fr , Fθ =m(dr/dt.dθ/dt + r d2θ/dt2)
These are the equatioils of motion in polar coordinates. For a particle moving
along a circle of radius a with C entre at 0, r=a, dr/dt=0 , d2r/dt2=0 so that if a force
F having radial and transverse components and Fr Fθ acts on it, the equations of
motion are
ma(dθ/dt) 2= - Fr , ma d2θ/dt2= Fθ