Week 18 Reflection

This week in physics, we began our first unit of the second semester dealing with centripetal motion. Centripetal motion is the circular path of an object in motion an a centripetal force is a force that keeps an object traveling in a circular path. We first began looking at how to calculate the velocity of an an object in centripetal motion, which is circumference divided by the period. The period is the time it takes for one complete revolution of the circle, which depends upon the speed of the object.

We looked at the difference between the velocity and speed of the object in centripetal or "center seeking" motion. It was concluded that the speed is constant, however, the velocity is not. Although the object continues cover how many meters per second, the direction is constantly changing through the motion, which caused the velocity to be inconstant. Velocity has to do with speed and direction, and the direction is changing during the revolution, so it is not consistent.

The string hooked on the object exerts a force on the object to the inside, creating an acceleration in the direction of the center as well. You have the direction of the velocity and the force to the center of the circle, which are component forces. This results in the motion going in between those two forces, creating a circular path around the center.

In addition, we also began looking at the radii of the circles and how they compare to the velocities. We discovered that the faster an object moves, the more force it exerts on the counterweights and the slower it moves, the less force. Next week we will begin looking at the force compared to the radii and will learn new principles from that experiment.

Cheers to second semester!
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