Analyse the forces acting on an object executing uniform circular motion in a variety of situations

Analyse the forces acting on an object executing uniform circular motion in a variety of situations

– cars moving around horizontal circular bends

cars-moving-around-horizontal-circular-bends

The only force acting on this car in the horizontal is the force of friction

Hence the frictional force towards the center of the circular path should be equal to , where is the mass of the car , is the velocity of the car and r is the radius of the circular path.

-a mass on a string

circular-motion-on-the-vertical-plane

The circular motion is in a vertical plane.

At every point in the uniform  circular motion , the centripetal force acting on the mass must be equal tocentripetal-force4

The tension in the string at :

  • point A is T1
  • point B is T2
  • point C is T3

At the top point A, the net force is  T1+mg. Which implies net-force

At point be B, the downward force is mg, and the inward force towards the center is T2. Hence net-force2 

At point C, the net force acting is T3 – mg. Hence net-force3

-objects on banked tracks

objects-on-banked-tracks

A free body diagram of the car would be as follows:

FBD-of-the-car

without friction, the only inward force here is Nx, a component of the Normal force on the car from the road.

normal-force-300x26-1

Now we know 

normal-force2-300x31-1[since there is no motion in the y axis]

centripetal force: centripetal-force5

now normal-force3

So centripetal-force6-300x41-1

which means

road-angle-300x55-1

to achieve speed v, without friction, the roads need to be banked at an angle road-angle2

Extract from Physics Stage 6 Syllabus © 2017 NSW Education Standards Authority (NESA)