Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
When a wheel rotates about its
axis, the motion cannot be
analyzed by modeling the object
as a particle because at any given
time different parts of the object
have different linear velocities
and linear accelerations.
We can, analyze the motion by
modeling it as a system of many
particles, each of which has its
own linear velocity and linear
acceleration.
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 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
The figure illustrates an overhead
view of a rotating CD. The disc rotates
about a fixed axis perpendicular to
the plane of the figure and passing
through the center of the disc at O.

A small particle at P is at a fixed distance r from the origin and rotates

about
2
it in a circle of radius r.
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
It is convenient to represent the
position of P with its polar coordinates
(r, θ), where r is the distance from the
origin to P and θ is measured
counterclockwise from some reference
line fixed in space. the angle θ changes
in time while r remains constant.

The arc length S

the angle θ is measured in radians.

3
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
Because the circumference of a
circle is 2r, it follows that 360o
corresponds to an angle of 2 rad.
Hence, 1 rad = 360o/2 = 57.3o.

Because the disc is a rigid object, as the particle moves through an

angle θ from the reference line, every other particle on the object
rotates
4
through the same angle θ.
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
As the particle on rigid object travels
from position A to position B in a
time interval t. The object sweeps
out an angle θ = θf – θi

If the rigid object spins rapidly, this

displacement can occur in a short
time interval. If it rotates slowly,
this displacement occurs in a
longer time interval.
5
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
These different rotation rates can
be quantified by defining the
average angular speed avg as the
ratio of the angular displacement
of a rigid object to the time interval
t during which the displacement
occurs:

6
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration

The instantaneous angular speed  is defined as the limit of the

average angular speed as t approaches zero:

Angular speed has units of radians per second (rad/s), which can be
written as (s-1) because radians are not dimensional.

We take  to be positive when θ is increasing (counterclockwise

motion) and negative when θ is decreasing (clockwise motion).
7
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
If the instantaneous angular speed of an object changes from i to

f in the time interval t, the object has an angular acceleration.

The average angular acceleration avg of a rotating rigid object is

defined as the ratio of the change in the angular speed to the time
interval t during which the change in the angular speed occurs:

8
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration

the instantaneous angular acceleration is defined as the limit of the

average angular acceleration as t approaches zero:

Angular acceleration has units of radians per second squared

(rad/s
9
2
), or simply (s -2
).
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration

When a rigid object is rotating about a fixed axis, every particle on

the object rotates through the same angle in a given time interval
and has the same angular speed and the same angular acceleration.
Therefore, like the angular position θ, the quantities  and 
characterize the rotational motion of the entire rigid object as well
as individual particles in the object.
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Angular Position, Velocity, and Acceleration
Rotational Motion Linear Motion

=
∆ 𝒙
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Example:
A wheel rotates with a constant angular
acceleration of 3.5 rad/s2.

(a) If the angular speed of the wheel is 2.0

rad/s at ti = 0, through what angular
displacement does the wheel rotate in 2.0 s?

(b) Through how many revolutions has the

wheel turned during this time interval?

(c) What is the angular speed of the wheel

at t = 2.0 s?
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Example:
An electric motor rotating a workshop
grinding wheel at 1.0×102 rev/min is
switched off. Assume the wheel has a
constant negative angular acceleration of
magnitude 2.0 rad/s2.
(a) How long does it take the grinding
wheel to stop?
(b) Through how many radians has the
wheel turned during the time interval
found in part (a)?
 Grade 11 Physics

Unit 6 Rotational Motion Rotation of a Rigid Object

About a Fixed Axis
Example:
A dentist’s drill starts from rest. After 3.20 s
of constant angular acceleration, it turns at
a rate of 2.51×104 rev/min.
(a) Find the drill’s angular acceleration.
(b) Determine the angle (in radians) through
which the drill rotates during this period.