Name: ______________________________________ Date: ________________________

Student Exploration: Uniform Circular Motion

Vocabulary: acceleration, centripetal acceleration, centripetal force, Newton’s first law,

Newton’s second law, uniform circular motion, vector, velocity

Prior Knowledge Questions (Do these BEFORE using the Gizmo.)

1. A boy is whirling a yo-yo above his head in a counter-

clockwise direction. At the exact moment shown at left, he
lets go of the string. In which direction will the yo-yo travel?
Draw an arrow on the image to show the yo-yo’s direction.

2. Do you think the released yo-yo’s path will be straight or

curved? Explain. The released yo-yo’s path will be

straight because there isn’t any force causing the

vector of the yo-yo to change its direction.

Gizmo Warm-up
The Uniform Circular Motion Gizmo™ shows a pink puck that is
floating above a circular air table. The puck is held to the center of
the table by a string so that it travels in a circle at a constant speed.

Check that the radius is 8.0 m and the mass is 5.0 kg. Set the
velocity to 5.0 m/s.

1. Turn on Show puck position (m). What are the coordinates of

the puck’s position? (8.00, 0.00)

2. Click Play ( ), and then click Pause ( ) when the puck is close to the y-axis.

What is the puck’s position now? (0.07, 8.00)

3. Click Reset ( ). Select the BAR CHART tab and select Velocity from the dropdown menu.
The three bars represent the magnitude, the x component, and the y component of the
puck’s velocity.

A. Click Play. Does the magnitude of the velocity change over time? No.

B. Do the x and y components of the velocity change over time? Yes.

 Activity A: Get the Gizmo ready:
Velocity,  Click Reset.
acceleration, and  Select the DESCRIPTION tab.
force  Turn on Show velocity and acceleration vectors.

Introduction: Velocity is a vector quantity that describes both the speed and direction of an
object’s motion. Vectors are represented by arrows. While the speed of the puck is constant, its
direction changes continually as it travels in a circle. Because its direction is changing, the puck
undergoes acceleration even though its speed is constant.

Question: How is the velocity of a revolving body related to its acceleration?

1. Observe: On the SIMULATION pane, observe the directions of the velocity (green) and
acceleration (purple) vectors.

A. What do you notice? The acceleration vector is pointing in the direction of the
circle’s center and the velocity vector is perpendicular to the acceleration
vector.

B. Click Play. What do you notice about the vectors as the puck moves in a circle?

The acceleration vector continues in the direction of the center, while the
velocity vector continues in a perpendicular path to the acceleration vector.

2. Infer: Newton’s second law states that a force will cause objects to accelerate in the
direction of the force.

A. Given the fact that the puck is accelerating, what can you conclude? There is a
force being enacted upon the puck.

B. What is the direction of the force on the puck as it travels in a circle? The direction
of the force enacting on the puck is toward the circle’s center.

3. Compare: Think about the force that causes a planet to orbit the Sun and the direction of
this force. How does the puck on the table relate to a planet orbiting the Sun? What forces
are acting on the puck and what forces are acting on the planet?

A tension force is acted on the puck with its connection to the table via the string and
the planet has the force of gravity holding it in its orbiting path.

(Activity A continued on next page)

Activity A (continued from previous page)

4. Infer: Newton’s first law states that an object will continue at

the same velocity (speed and direction) unless acted upon by
an unbalanced force. Click Pause when the puck is in
approximately the position shown at right. Imagine at this
moment the string connecting the puck to the center is cut.

A. Is any force acting on the puck now? No.

B. Draw an arrow on the image to represent the direction

of the puck’s motion.

C. Would the path of the puck be straight or curved? The puck’s path would be
straight.

5. Apply: If the string connecting the puck to the center is cut, there will be no net force on the
puck. (The force of gravity is offset by the turntable.) The puck will not accelerate or change
direction, so it will move at a constant speed in the direction it was moving at the time the
string was cut.

How does this relate to the boy whirling a yo-yo given at the start of this Exploration sheet?

When the boy with the yo-yo let it go, there were no more forces being acted upon the
yo-yo, so would keep moving in a straight line at the same velocity and direction as
when it was let go, exactly the same as the puck and the turntable.

6. Think and discuss: If you are sitting in the back seat of a car that makes a hard left turn, you
will feel pushed toward the right side of the car. Why does your body move to the right?

Because your body is still moving in the direction that the car was moving before it
made the turn.
 Get the Gizmo ready:
Activity B:
 Click Reset.
Centripetal
 Set the radius to 2.0 m, the mass to 1.0 kg, and
acceleration
the velocity to 10.0 m/s.

Introduction: The acceleration toward the center that keeps objects in uniform circular
motion (circular motion at a constant speed) is called centripetal acceleration. An
understanding of centripetal acceleration was one of the key elements that led to Newton’s
formulation of the law of universal gravitation.

Question: How is centripetal acceleration related to radius, mass, and velocity?

1. Record: Select the BAR CHART tab, select Acceleration from the dropdown menu, and
turn on Show numerical values. The bar on the left shows the magnitude of the
acceleration, or |a|. The units of acceleration are meters per second per second, or m/s2.

What is the current magnitude of the acceleration? 50.00m/s2

2. Predict: How do you think the magnitude of the acceleration will depend on radius, mass,
and velocity? Record your predictions by completing each sentence.

When the radius increases, the centripetal acceleration will decrease.

When the mass increases, the centripetal acceleration will stay the same.

When the velocity increases, the centripetal acceleration will increase.

3. Gather data: Keeping the mass at 1.0 kg and the velocity at 10.0 m/s, record the
magnitude of centripetal acceleration for each given radius value. Include units.

Radius: 2.0 m 4.0 m 6.0 m 8.0 m 10.0 m

2 2 2 2
Acceleration: 50.00m/s 25.00m/s 16.67m/s 12.50m/s 10.00m/s2
Radius factor: 1 2 3 4 5
Acceleration factor: 1 ½ 1/3 ¼ 1/5

4. Calculate: To calculate the radius factor, divide each radius by the original radius (2.0 m). To
calculate the acceleration factor, divide each acceleration value by the original acceleration
(50.00 m/s2).

5. Analyze: How does the acceleration change when the radius is multiplied by x? When the
radius is multiplied by x, then the acceleration is multiplied by 1/x.

(Activity B continued on next page)

Activity B (continued from previous page)

6. Explore: Move the mass slider back and forth. Does the puck’s mass have any effect on its

acceleration? Explain. No, the mass doesn’t have an effect on the acceleration because

when finding acceleration, mass is not a factor, but distance and velocity are.

7. Gather data: Set the radius to 2.0 m and the velocity to 1.0 m/s. Keeping the radius the
same, record the magnitude of centripetal acceleration for each given velocity. Include units.

Velocity: 1.0 m/s 2.0 m/s 3.0 m/s 4.0 m/s 5.0 m/s
2 2 2 2
Acceleration: .50m/s 2.00m/s 4.50m/s 8.0m/s 12.50m/s2
Velocity factor: 1 2 3 4 5
Acceleration factor: 1 4 9 16 25

8. Calculate: To calculate the velocity factor, divide each velocity by the original velocity
(1.0 m/s). To calculate the acceleration factor, divide each acceleration value by the original
acceleration (0.50 m/s2).

9. Analyze: How does the acceleration change when the velocity is multiplied by x? When the
velocity is multiplied by x, then the acceleration is multiplied by x2.

10. Make a rule: Based on your investigations, create an equation for centripetal acceleration
(ac) based on the velocity and radius. Test your equation using the Gizmo.

ac = (velcity2) (1/radius)

11. Apply: Without using the Gizmo, use your equation to calculate the acceleration of a puck

that is in uniform circular motion with a radius of 3.0 m and a velocity of 9.0 m/s: 27m/s2

Check your answer with the Gizmo.

12. Challenge: Newton’s second law states that force is equal to the product of mass and
acceleration: F = ma. Based on Newton’s second law, what is the centripetal force (Fc) on
a puck in uniform circular motion with mass m and velocity v?

Fc = mv2/radius