Circular motion

In physics, circular motion is a movement of an object along t he circumference of a circle or

rot at ion along a circular arc. It can be uniform, wit h a const ant rat e of rot at ion and const ant
t angent ial speed, or non-uniform wit h a changing rat e of rot at ion. The rot at ion around a fixed axis
of a t hree-dimensional body involves t he circular mot ion of it s part s. The equat ions of mot ion
describe t he movement of t he cent er of mass of a body, which remains at a const ant dist ance
from t he axis of rot at ion. In circular mot ion, t he dist ance bet ween t he body and a fixed point on
it s surface remains t he same, i.e., t he body is assumed rigid.

Examples of circular mot ion include: special sat ellit e orbit s around t he Eart h (circular orbit s), a
ceiling fan's blades rot at ing around a hub, a st one t hat is t ied t o a rope and is being swung in
circles, a car t urning t hrough a curve in a race t rack, an elect ron moving perpendicular t o a uniform
magnet ic field, and a gear t urning inside a mechanism.

Since t he object 's velocit y vect or is const ant ly changing direct ion, t he moving object is
undergoing accelerat ion by a cent ripet al force in t he direct ion of t he cent er of rot at ion. Wit hout
t his accelerat ion, t he object would move in a st raight line, according t o Newt on's laws of mot ion...
Uniform circular motion

Figure 1: Velocity v and

acceleration a in uniform
circular motion at angular rate
ω; the speed is constant, but
the velocity is always tangent
to the orbit; the acceleration
has constant magnitude, but
always points toward the
center of rotation.
 Figure 2: The velocity vectors at time t and
time t + dt are moved from the orbit on the
left to new positions where their tails
coincide, on the right. Because the velocity
is fixed in magnitude at v = r ω, the velocity
vectors also sweep out a circular path at
angular rate ω. As dt → 0, the acceleration
vector a becomes perpendicular to v,
which means it points toward the center of
the orbit in the circle on the left. Angle ω dt
is the very small angle between the two
velocities and tends to zero as dt → 0.

Figure 3: (Left) Ball in a circular motion – rope

provides centripetal force to keep the ball in a circle
(Right) Rope is cut and the ball continues in a
straight line with the velocity at the time of cutting
the rope, in accord with Newton's law of inertia,
because centripetal force is no longer there.

In physics, uniform circular motion describes t he mot ion of a body t raversing a circular pat h at
a const ant speed. Since t he body describes circular mot ion, it s dist ance from t he axis of rot at ion
remains const ant at all t imes. Though t he body's speed is const ant , it s velocit y is not const ant :
velocit y, a vect or quant it y, depends on bot h t he body's speed and it s direct ion of t ravel. This
changing velocit y indicat es t he presence of an accelerat ion; t his cent ripet al accelerat ion is of
const ant magnit ude and direct ed at all t imes t oward t he axis of rot at ion. This accelerat ion is, in
t urn, produced by a cent ripet al force which is also const ant in magnit ude and direct ed t oward t he
axis of rot at ion.

In t he case of rot at ion around a fixed axis of a rigid body t hat is not negligibly small compared t o
t he radius of t he pat h, each part icle of t he body describes a uniform circular mot ion wit h t he
same angular velocit y, but wit h velocit y and accelerat ion varying wit h t he posit ion wit h respect t o
t he axis.

Formulae

Figure 1: Vector relationships for uniform circular

motion; vector Ω representing the rotation is
normal to the plane of the orbit.

For mot ion in a circle of radius r, t he circumference of t he circle is C = 2πr. If t he period for one
rot at ion is T, t he angular rat e of rot at ion, also known as angular velocit y, ω is:

and the units are radians/second.

The speed of t he object t raveling t he circle is:
The angle θ swept out in a t ime t is:

The angular accelerat ion, α, of t he part icle is:

In t he case of uniform circular mot ion, α will be zero.

The accelerat ion due t o change in t he direct ion is:

The cent ripet al and cent rifugal force can also be found using accelerat ion:

The vect or relat ionships are shown in Figure 1. The axis of rot at ion is shown as a vect or ω
perpendicular t o t he plane of t he orbit and wit h a magnit ude ω = dθ / dt. The direct ion of ω is
chosen using t he right -hand rule. Wit h t his convent ion for depict ing rot at ion, t he velocit y is given
by a vect or cross product as
which is a vector perpendicular to both ω
and r(t), tangential to the orbit, and of
magnitude ω r. Likewise, the acceleration
is given by

which is a vector perpendicular to both ω

and v(t) of magnitude ω |v | = ω2 r and
directed exactly opposite to r(t).[1]
In t he simplest case t he speed, mass, and radius are const ant .

Consider a body of one kilogram, moving in a circle of radius one met re, wit h an angular velocit y of
one radian per second.

The speed is 1 metre per second.

The inward acceleration is 1 metre per
square second, v 2/r.
It is subject to a centripetal force of 1
kilogram metre per square second,
which is 1 newton.
The momentum of the body is 1
kg·m·s−1.
The moment of inertia is 1 kg·m2.
The angular momentum is 1 kg·m2·s−1.
The kinetic energy is 1 joule.
The circumference of the orbit is 2π
(~6.283) metres.
The period of the motion is 2π seconds
per turn.
The frequency is (2π)−1 hertz.
In polar coordinates

Figure 4: Polar coordinates for circular trajectory. On the left

is a unit circle showing the changes and in the
unit vectors and for a small increment in angle .

During circular mot ion, t he body moves on a curve t hat can be described in t he polar coordinat e
syst em as a fixed dist ance R from t he cent er of t he orbit t aken as t he origin, orient ed at an angle
θ(t) from some reference direct ion. See Figure 4. The displacement vector is t he radial vect or
from t he origin t o t he part icle locat ion:

where is the unit vector parallel to

the radius vector at time t and pointing
away from the origin. It is convenient to
introduce the unit vector orthogonal to
as well, namely . It is
customary to orient to point in the
direction of travel along the orbit.
The velocit y is t he t ime derivat ive of t he displacement :

Because t he radius of t he circle is const ant , t he radial component of t he velocit y is zero. The unit
vect or has a t ime-invariant magnit ude of unit y, so as t ime varies it s t ip always lies on a
circle of unit radius, wit h an angle θ t he same as t he angle of . If t he part icle displacement
rot at es t hrough an angle dθ in t ime dt, so does , describing an arc on t he unit circle of
magnit ude dθ. See t he unit circle at t he left of Figure 4. Hence:

where the direction of the change must be

perpendicular to (or, in other words,
along ) because any change
in the direction of would change the
size of . The sign is positive
because an increase in dθ implies the
object and have moved in the
direction of . Hence the velocity
becomes:

The accelerat ion of t he body can also be broken int o radial and t angent ial component s. The
accelerat ion is t he t ime derivat ive of t he velocit y:

The t ime derivat ive of is found t he same way as for . Again, is a unit vect or
and it s t ip t races a unit circle wit h an angle t hat is π/2 + θ. Hence, an increase in angle dθ by
implies t races an arc of magnit ude dθ, and as is ort hogonal t o , we have:

where a negative sign is necessary to keep

orthogonal to . (Otherwise,
the angle between and would
decrease with an increase in dθ.) See the
unit circle at the left of Figure 4.
Consequently, the acceleration is:

The cent ripet al accelerat ion is t he radial component , which is direct ed radially inward:

while the tangential component changes

the magnitude of the velocity:

Using complex numbers

Circular mot ion can be described using complex numbers. Let t he x axis be t he real axis and t he
axis be t he imaginary axis. The posit ion of t he body can t hen be given as , a complex "vect or":
where i is the imaginary unit, and is
the argument of the complex number as a
function of time, t.
Since t he radius is const ant :

where a dot indicates differentiation in

respect of time.
Wit h t his not at ion, t he velocit y becomes:

and the acceleration becomes:

The first t erm is opposit e in direct ion t o t he displacement vect or and t he second is perpendicular
t o it , just like t he earlier result s shown before.
Velocity
Figure 1 illust rat es velocit y and accelerat ion vect ors for uniform mot ion at four different point s
in t he orbit . Because t he velocit y v is t angent t o t he circular pat h, no t wo velocit ies point in t he
same direct ion. Alt hough t he object has a const ant speed, it s direction is always changing. This
change in velocit y is caused by an accelerat ion a, whose magnit ude is (like t hat of t he velocit y)
held const ant , but whose direct ion also is always changing. The accelerat ion point s radially
inwards (cent ripet ally) and is perpendicular t o t he velocit y. This accelerat ion is known as
cent ripet al accelerat ion.

For a pat h of radius r, when an angle θ is swept out , t he dist ance t raveled on t he periphery of t he
orbit is s = rθ. Therefore, t he speed of t ravel around t he orbit is

where the angular rate of rotation is ω. (By

rearrangement, ω = v/r.) Thus, v is a
constant, and the velocity vector v also
rotates with constant magnitude v, at the
same angular rate ω.

Relativistic circular motion

In t his case, t he t hree-accelerat ion vect or is perpendicular t o t he t hree-velocit y vect or,
and the square of proper acceleration,
expressed as a scalar invariant, the same
in all reference frames,

becomes the expression for circular

motion,

or, taking the positive square root and

using the three-acceleration, we arrive at
the proper acceleration for circular motion:

Acceleration
The left -hand circle in Figure 2 is t he orbit showing t he velocit y vect ors at t wo adjacent t imes.
On t he right , t hese t wo velocit ies are moved so t heir t ails coincide. Because speed is const ant ,
t he velocit y vect ors on t he right sweep out a circle as t ime advances. For a swept angle
dθ = ω dt t he change in v is a vect or at right angles t o v and of magnit ude v dθ, which in t urn
means t hat t he magnit ude of t he accelerat ion is given by
Centripetal acceleration for some values of radius and magnitude of velocity

1 m/s 2 m/s 5 m/s 10 m/s 20 m/s 50 m/s 100 m/s

| v| 3.6 km/h 7.2 km/h 18 km/h 36 km/h 72 km/h 180 km/h 360 km/h
r 2.2 mph 4.5 mph 11 mph 22 mph 45 mph 110 mph 220 mph

Slow walk Bicycle City car Aerobatics

10 cm Laboratory 10 m/s2 40 m/s2 250 m/s2 1.0 km/s2 4.0 km/s2 25 km/s2 100 km/s2
3.9 in centrifuge 1.0 g 4.1 g 25 g 100 g 410 g 2500 g 10000 g

20 cm 5.0 m/s2 20 m/s2 130 m/s2 500 m/s2 2.0 km/s2 13 km/s2 50 km/s2
7.9 in 0.51 g 2.0 g 13 g 51 g 200 g 1300 g 5100 g

50 cm 2.0 m/s2 8.0 m/s2 50 m/s2 200 m/s2 800 m/s2 5.0 km/s2 20 km/s2
1.6 ft 0.20 g 0.82 g 5.1 g 20 g 82 g 510 g 2000 g

1m Playground 1.0 m/s2 4.0 m/s2 25 m/s2 100 m/s2 400 m/s2 2.5 km/s2 10 km/s2
3.3 ft carousel 0.10 g 0.41 g 2.5 g 10 g 41 g 250 g 1000 g

2m 500 mm/s2 2.0 m/s2 13 m/s2 50 m/s2 200 m/s2 1.3 km/s2 5.0 km/s2
6.6 ft 0.051 g 0.20 g 1.3 g 5.1 g 20 g 130 g 510 g

5m 200 mm/s2 800 mm/s2 5.0 m/s2 20 m/s2 80 m/s2 500 m/s2 2.0 km/s2
16 ft 0.020 g 0.082 g 0.51 g 2.0 g 8.2 g 51 g 200 g

Roller-
10 m coaster 100 mm/s2 400 mm/s2 2.5 m/s2 10 m/s2 40 m/s2 250 m/s2 1.0 km/s2
33 ft ver tical 0.010 g 0.041 g 0.25 g 1.0 g 4.1 g 25 g 100 g
loop

20 m 50 mm/s2 200 mm/s2 1.3 m/s2 5.0 m/s2 20 m/s2 130 m/s2 500 m/s2
66 ft 0.0051 g 0.020 g 0.13 g 0.51 g 2g 13 g 51 g

50 m 20 mm/s2 80 mm/s2 500 mm/s2 2.0 m/s2 8.0 m/s2 50 m/s2 200 m/s2
160 ft 0.0020 g 0.0082 g 0.051 g 0.20 g 0.82 g 5.1 g 20 g

100 m Freeway 10 mm/s2 40 mm/s2 250 mm/s2 1.0 m/s2 4.0 m/s2 25 m/s2 100 m/s2
330 ft on-ramp 0.0010 g 0.0041 g 0.025 g 0.10 g 0.41 g 2.5 g 10 g

200 m 5.0 mm/s2 20 mm/s2 130 m/s2 500 mm/s2 2.0 m/s2 13 m/s2 50 m/s2
660 ft 0.00051 g 0.0020 g 0.013 g 0.051 g 0.20 g 1.3 g 5.1 g

500 m 2.0 mm/s2 8.0 mm/s2 50 mm/s2 200 mm/s2 800 mm/s2 5.0 m/s2 20 m/s2
1600 ft 0.00020 g 0.00082 g 0.0051 g 0.020 g 0.082 g 0.51 g 2.0 g
 High-
1 km 1.0 mm/s2 4.0 mm/s2 25 mm/s2 100 mm/s2 400 mm/s2 2.5 m/s2 10 m/s2
speed
3300 ft 0.00010 g 0.00041 g 0.0025 g 0.010 g 0.041 g 0.25 g 1.0 g
railway

Non-uniform
In a non-uniform circular motion, an object is
moving in a circular pat h wit h a varying speed. Since
t he speed is changing, t here is t angent ial
accelerat ion in addit ion t o normal accelerat ion.

In a non-uniform circular mot ion, t he net accelerat ion

(a) is along t he direct ion of Δv, which is direct ed
inside t he circle but does not pass t hrough it s
cent er (see figure). The net accelerat ion may be resolved int o t wo component s: t angent ial
accelerat ion and normal accelerat ion also known as t he cent ripet al or radial accelerat ion. Unlike
t angent ial accelerat ion, cent ripet al accelerat ion is present in bot h uniform and non-uniform
circular mot ion.

In a non-uniform circular mot ion, normal force does not always

point in t he opposit e direct ion of weight . Here is an example
wit h an object t raveling in a st raight pat h t hen looping a loop
back int o a st raight pat h again.

This diagram shows t he

normal force point ing in ot her direct ions rat her t han opposit e
t o t he weight force. The normal force is act ually t he sum of
t he radial and t angent ial forces. The component of weight
force is responsible for t he t angent ial force here (We have
neglect ed frict ional force). The radial force (cent ripet al force)
is due t o t he change in t he direct ion of velocit y as discussed
earlier.

In a non-uniform circular mot ion, normal force and weight may point in t he same direct ion. Bot h
forces can point down, yet t he object will remain in a circular pat h wit hout falling st raight down.
First , let 's see why normal force can point down in t he first place. In t he first diagram, let 's say
t he object is a person sit t ing inside a plane, t he t wo forces point down only when it reaches t he
t op of t he circle. The reason for t his is t hat t he normal force is t he sum of t he t angent ial force
and cent ripet al force. The t angent ial force is zero at t he t op (as no work is performed when t he
mot ion is perpendicular t o t he direct ion of force applied. Here weight force is perpendicular t o
t he direct ion of mot ion of t he object at t he t op of t he circle) and cent ripet al force point s down,
t hus normal force will point down as well. From a logical st andpoint , a person who is t ravelling in
t he plane will be upside down at t he t op of t he circle. At t hat moment , t he person's seat is
act ually pushing down on t he person, which is t he normal force.

The reason why t he object does not fall down when subject ed
t o only downward forces is a simple one. Think about what
keeps an object up aft er it is t hrown. Once an object is t hrown
int o t he air, t here is only t he downward force of Eart h's gravit y
t hat act s on t he object . That does not mean t hat once an object is t hrown in t he air, it will fall
inst ant ly. What keeps t hat object up in t he air is it s velocit y. The first of Newt on's laws of mot ion
st at es t hat an object 's inert ia keeps it in mot ion, and since t he object in t he air has a velocit y, it
will t end t o keep moving in t hat direct ion.

A varying angular speed for an object moving in a circular pat h can also be achieved if t he rot at ing
body does not have a homogeneous mass dist ribut ion. For inhomogeneous object s, it is necessary
t o approach t he problem as in.[2]

One can deduce t he formulae of speed, accelerat ion and jerk, assuming all t he variables t o
depend on :
Furt her t ransformat ions may involve and corresponding

derivat ives:
Applications
Solving applicat ions dealing wit h non-uniform circular mot ion involves force analysis. Wit h a
uniform circular mot ion, t he only force act ing upon an object t raveling in a circle is t he cent ripet al
force. In a non-uniform circular mot ion, t here are addit ional forces act ing on t he object due t o a
non-zero t angent ial accelerat ion. Alt hough t here are addit ional forces act ing upon t he object , t he
sum of all t he forces act ing on t he object will have t o be equal t o t he cent ripet al force.

Radial accelerat ion is used when calculat ing t he t ot al force. Tangent ial accelerat ion is not used in
calculat ing t ot al force because it is not responsible for keeping t he object in a circular pat h. The
only accelerat ion responsible for keeping an object moving in a circle is t he radial accelerat ion.
Since t he sum of all forces is t he cent ripet al force, drawing cent ripet al force int o a free body
diagram is not necessary and usually not recommended.

Using , we can draw free body diagrams t o list all t he forces act ing on an object and
t hen set it equal t o . Aft erward, we can solve for what ever is unknown (t his can be mass,
velocit y, radius of curvat ure, coefficient of frict ion, normal force, et c.). For example, t he visual
above showing an object at t he t op of a semicircle would be expressed as .

In a uniform circular mot ion, t he t ot al accelerat ion of an object in a circular pat h is equal t o t he
radial accelerat ion. Due t o t he presence of t angent ial accelerat ion in a non uniform circular
mot ion, t hat does not hold t rue any more. To find t he t ot al accelerat ion of an object in a non
uniform circular, find t he vect or sum of t he t angent ial accelerat ion and t he radial accelerat ion.
Radial accelerat ion is st ill equal t o . Tangent ial accelerat ion is simply t he derivat ive of t he
speed at any given point : . This root sum of squares of separat e radial and t angent ial
accelerat ions is only correct for circular mot ion; for general mot ion wit hin a plane wit h polar

coordinat es , t he Coriolis t erm should be added t o , whereas radial

accelerat ion t hen becomes .

See also

Angular momentum
Equations of motion for circular motion
Time derivative § Example: circular
motion
Fictitious force
Geostationary orbit
Geosynchronous orbit
Pendulum (mechanics)
 Reactive centrifugal force
Reciprocating motion
Simple harmonic motion § Uniform
circular motion
Sling (weapon)

References

1. Knudsen, Jens M.; Hjorth, Poul G. (2000).

Elements of Newtonian mechanics:
including nonlinear dynamics ([Link]
[Link]/books?id=Urumwws_lWUC&p
g=PA96) (3 ed.). Springer. p. 96. ISBN 3-
540-67652-X.

2. Gomez, R W; Hernandez-Gomez, J J;
Marquina, V (25 July 2012). "A jumping
cylinder on an inclined plane" ([Link]
 [Link]/publication/236030807) .
Eur. J. Phys. 33 (5). IOP: 1359–1365.
arXiv:1204.0600 ([Link]
4.0600) . Bibcode:2012EJPh...33.1359G (ht
tps://[Link]/abs/2012EJP
h...33.1359G) . doi:10.1088/0143-
0807/33/5/1359 ([Link]
2F0143-0807%2F33%2F5%2F1359) .
S2CID 55442794 ([Link]
[Link]/CorpusID:55442794) . Retrieved
25 April 2016.

External links

Physclips: Mechanics with animations

and video clips ([Link]
web/20070601020244/[Link]
[Link]/) from the University
of New South Wales
Circular Motion ([Link]
ls/me_20220102/page/257/) – a
chapter from an online textbook,
Mechanics ([Link]
om/mechanics/) , by Benjamin Crowell
(2019)
Circular Motion Lecture ([Link]
[Link]/web/20100117190656/[Link]
[Link]/OcwWeb/Physics/8-01Physi
cs-IFall1999/VideoLectures/detail/embe
[Link]) – a video lecture on CM
[1] ([Link]
erceptions-Physics-Commentaries-soluti
 ons/dp/1542776058) – an online
textbook with different analysis for
circular motion

Retrieved from
"[Link]
title=Circular_motion&oldid=1220845681"

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