This week in physics, we explored more with centripetal motion and the force needed for this "center seeking" movement. To recap, last week we discovered that the speed itself of the object is not changing, but the velocity is due to the change in direction. The only force acting on the object in centripetal motion is the force to the center of the circle; its velocity is not a force. However, the two directions form a component path, in which the object turns in between them, creating the circular motion.
In the beginning of the week we completed a velocity vs. radius lab and came to the conclusion that the data formed a hyperbola. We related this to our acceleration unit, as the graph had the same general shape. The points were mostly linear until the line hit some that were off. At first I thought this was skewed data in our experiment, but it actually wasn't. However, generally, the larger the radius, the greater the velocity of the object.
We also started looking at the factors that affect centripetal motion and the force needed to keep the object in a circular path. Centripetal force is the amount of force required to keep an object in centripetal motion and it depends upon the mass, radius, and velocity. In order to get an object to accelerate, it neds a certain force to act on its mass. We knew that force=mass*acceleration and that acceleration=velocity squared/radius. So we then substituted the acceleration formula into the force formula to construct the formula for centripetal force: force=mass*(velocity squared/radius).
Pictures are a little light this week, but I promise more for next week's blog!
Off to test my marshmallow catapult :)
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