Laboratory #3.

Uniform Circular Motion

Topic: Uniform Circular Motion

Objective: Create an investigation on particles moving on uniform circular motion about a fixed axis.

Simulation: iLEARNING ZONE

 Problem to Investigate

What is the relationship of translational speed to radial position of the particle considering the
period is set to constant?

 Hypothesis

Hypothesis Translation speed and radial position of the particle is both present in a circular
motion even if the period is set to constant.

 Plan of the experiment

Dependent Translation speed

Independent Radial position of the particle at its period set to constant
 Procedure
1. Set the Period in 4.5s and the radius of path in 2.0m, make sure to use clockwise for the
movement of the circle to avoid negative variables.
2. Get the angular displacement, angular velocity and linear speed.
3. Set a timer (we chose 20.00 s) and get the number of turns.
4. Repeat the step 1 with the period of 4.5 seconds and changed the radius of path in 1.0m and
0.5m. Do not forget to repeat procedure no. 2 and procedure no. 3 on every time that the value
of the radius of path will change.
5. After all the procedure have done change the period into 3.5s, 2.5s, 1.5s and 1.0s and the radius
will still remain on every Set of Period in 2.0m, 1.0m and 0.5m and get all the necessary
information in the simulation.
 Results of the Experiment

PERIOD RADIUS OF ANGULAR LINEAR SPEED TIME NUMBER OF

PATH VELOCITY ELAPSED TURNS
4.5 s 2.0 m 1.40 rad s−1 2.79 m s−1 20.00 s 4.5
1.0 m 1.40 rad s−1 1.44 m s−1 20. 00 s 4.5
0.5 m 1.80 rad s−1 0.93 m s−1 20.00 s 4.5
3.5 s 2.0 m 1.80 rad s−1 3.59 m s−1 20.00 s 5.7
1.0 m 1.80 rad s−1 1.85 m s−1 20.00 s 5.7
0.5 m 1.80 rad s−1 0.95 m s−1 20.00 s 5.7
2.5 s 2.0 m 2.62 rad s−1 3.24 m s−1 20.00 s 8.0
1.0 m 2.51 rad s−1 2.59 m s−1 20.00 s 8.0
0.5 m 2.51 rad s−1 1.33 m s−1 20.0 s 8.0
1.5 s 2.0 m 4.19 rad s−1 8.38 m s−1 20.00 s 13.4
1.0 m 4.19 rad s−1 4.23 m s−1 20.00 s 13.4
0.5 m 4.19 rad s−1 2.18 m s−1 20.00 s 13.4
1.0 s 2.0 m 6.28 rad s−1 12.57 m s−1 20.00 s 20.00
1.0 m 6.28 rad s−1 6.03 m s−1 20.00 s 20.00
0.5 m 6.28 rad s−1 3.27 s−1 20.00 s 20.00

o Explanation
The table shows that translational speed is related to radial position (a direction
pointing along a radius from an object's center or perpendicular to a curved path), and that
they both affect the flow of a particle in a circular motion. But when the period (the time for
one revolution around the circle) is constant there will be no change in translational speed
but changing the radius will still not affect the number of revolutions in its path. For
example, we used 3 different radius of path and 5 different periods, we set the timer for
each period with a different radius of path for 20 seconds and they all get the same total
number of revolutions in their path. It appears that there are no changes in the total
revolutions in a circular path in each category whenever the radius of path is different as
long as the period is constant. It means that there is no significant relationship between
translation speed and radial motion when the period is set to constant. Based on our
understanding of circular motion, we may conclude that the magnitude of a period's
translational speed while traveling in a circle has no relationship to the period's radial
motion. In each classification, there are no variations in the total number of revolutions in a
circular path.

 Conclusion

The purpose of this experiment was to know the relationship of translational speed to radial
position of the particle considering the period is set to constant. The result supported the hypothesis
that there is a uniform angular velocity even if the period is set to constant. But in terms of linear speed,
it was found out that the average speed and the radius of the circle are directly proportional. It means
that objects moving around circles of different radius in the same period, the object traversing the circle
of larger radius must be traveling with the greatest speed.