MOTION IN A CIRCLE
1. The minute hand of a large clock is 3.0 m long. What is its mean angular speed?
(A) 1.4 x 10-4 rad s-1 (B) 1.7 x 10-3 rad s-1
-3 -1
(C) 5.2 x 10 rad s (D) 1.0 x 10-1 rad s-1
2. A part in an engine is rotating in a circle of radius 8.0 cm at 3000 revolutions per minute. What
is its centripetal acceleration?
(A) 25 ms-2 (B) 7900 ms-2
(C) 3.1 x 104 ms-2 (D) 7.2 x 107 ms-2
3. An object on the end of a spring oscillates with simple harmonic motion of angular frequency
2.0 rad s-1. What is the period of the oscillation?
(A) 0.080 s (B) 0.32 s
(C) 0.50 s (D) 3.1 s
4. An object is travelling in a circle of radius r with angular velocity w and speed v. Which
expression gives the centripetal acceleration?
(A) rw (B) vw
v v
(C) (D) 2
r r
5. What is the linear speed of a point on the Earth’s equator as a result of the Earth’s rotation
about its axis? (radius of the Earth = 6.38 x 106m)
(A) 2.16 x 10-3 ms-1 (B) 4.31 x 10-3 ms-1
-1
(C) 232 ms (D) 464 ms-1
6. A point mass moves through a circular arc of length l and radius v in time t. What is its angular
velocity about the centre of the circle?
l r
(A) (B)
rt ¿
2π 2 πr
(C) (D)
¿ t
7. A disc is rotating about an axis through its centre and perpendicular to its plane P on the disc is
wire as far from the axis as a point Q. At a given instant, what is the value of the linear velocity
the linear velocity of P
of ?
thelinear velocity of Q
(A) 4 (B) 2
1 1
(C) (D)
2 4
8. When a aircraft is moving in a horizontal place at a constant speed of 650 ms-1, its turning circle
has a radius of 80 km.
What is the ratio of the centripetal force to the weight of the aircraft?
(A) 8.3 x 10-4 (B) 0.54
(C) 1.9 (D) 52
9. An object of mass of 2 kg rotates at constant speed in a horizontal circle of radius 5 m. The time
for one complete revolution is 3 s. What is the magnitude of the resultant force acting on the
object?
2 2
4π 40 π
(A) N (B) N
9 9
2 2
100 π 400 π
(C) N (D) N
9 9
10. A stone rotates in a horizontal circle with constant angular velocity w. What changes occur in
the linear speed and in the centripetal acceleration of the stone as the radius of the circle
increases?
Linear speed Centripetal acceleration
A Constant Decrease
B Constant Increase
C Increase Constant
D Increase Increase
11. A body rotates with uniform speed in a circle of radius r and takes time T to complete one
revolution. What are the magnitudes of the angular velocity w, the linear v and the acceleration
a?
Angular velocity, w Linear velocity, v Acceleration, a
A 1 4 πr 2 πr
T T T
2
B 2π 2 πr 2 πr
T T T
2
C 2π 2 πr 2
4π r
T T T
2
D 2π 4 πr 2
4π r
T T T
2
12. An oscillating pendulum bob of mass m and weight W is supported by string of length r. What
is the relationship between W and the tension T in the string at the instant when the string is
vertical and the bob is moving with speed v?
2
V
(A) T – W (B) T −W =
r
2 2
V V
(C) T −W =m (D) W −T =m
r r
13. A disc rotates clockwise about its centre O until point P has moved to point Q, such that OP
equals the length of the straight-line PQ.
What is the angular displacement of OQ relative to OP?
π 2π
(A) rad (B) rad
3 3
4π 5π
(C) rad (D) rad
3 3
14. What is the mean speed and the mean angular velocity of the earth in it’s around the sun? (The
mean radius of the orbit is 1.50 x 1011 m.)
Speed/ ms-1 Angular velocity/ rad s-1
A 2.99 x 104 1.99 x 10-7
B 2.99 x 104 1.72 x 10-2
C 1.09 x 107 1.72 x 10-2
D 1.09 x 107 7.27 x 10-5
15. A ball of mass 0.10 kg is attached to a sting and swung in a vertical circle of radius 0.50 m, as
shown. Its speed at the top of the circle is 6.0ms-1. [Take g as 10 ms-2.]
What is the tension in the string as this moment?
(A) 1.0 N (B) 6.2 N
(C) 7.2 N (D) 8.2 N
16. A child on a roundabout is travelling in a horizontal circle with a constant speed. The child’s
velocity its, acceleration and the resultant horizontal force on the child are all vectors.
Which diagram shows the correct directions for these vectors?
17. A small ball suspended from a light thread moves in a horizontal circle at a constant speed.
A student draws the forces acting on the ball but fails to label them.
Which diagram shows the correct forces?
18. A mass of 0.050 kg is attached to one end of a piece of elastic of unstretched length 0.50 m. The
force constant of the elastic (i.e the force required to produce unit extension) is 40 Nm -1.
The mass is rotated steadily on a smooth table in a horizontal circle of radius 0.70 m as shown
below.
What is the approximate speed of the mass?
(A) 11 ms-1 (B) 15 ms-1
-1
(C) 20 ms (D) 24 ms-1
19. A body moving in a circular path of radius r has tangential acceleration at, and centripetal
acceleration ac.
If the body is moving at constant speed v, what are the magnitude of at and ac?
Tangential, Centripetal acceleration, ac
acceleration, at
A rv2 0
B r2/ r 0
C 0 rv2
D 0 v2/ r
20. The maximum safe speed of a car rounding an unbanked corner is ms-1 when the road is dry.
The maximum frictional force between the road surface and the wheels of the car is halved
when is the maximum safe speed for the car to around the corner when the road is wet?
20 −1 20 −1
(A) ms (B) ms
4 2 √2
20 −1 20 −1
(C) ms (D) ms
2 √2
21. City A is on the Equator. City B is at a latitude of 52o N, as shown in the diagram.
A student at city A has a centripetal acceleration aA because of the Earth’s rotation about its
axis. The centripetal acceleration of another student at city B is aB.
What is the magnitude of the centripetal accelerations?
(radius of Earth = 6.4 x 16m; angular velocity of Earth about axis = 7.3 x 10-5 rad s-1.)
aA/ ms-2 aB/ ms-2
A 3.4 x 10-2 2.1 x 10-2
B 3.4 x 10-2 2.7 x 10-2
C 3.4 x 10-2 3.4 x 10-2
D 4.7 x 102 4.7 x 102
22. An astronomer points a powerful laser beam at the Moon, a distance R away. The beam has a
very small divergence angle ϴ, as shown in the diagram (which exaggerates greatly the size of
the angle).
The astronomer looks up a value for the distance R. the value is in kilometres. He measures the
angle ϴ in degrees.
What is the diameter, in meters, of the circle of light the laser produces on the Moon?
(A) 1.72 x 10-5 Rϴ (B) 17.5 Rϴ
(C) 1000 Rϴ (D) 5.73 x 104 Rϴ
23. A pendulum bob of mass 1.27 kg is supported by a string so that the radius of its path is 0.600
m. It is moving with velocity 0.575 ms-1 horizontally at the centre of its motion when the string
is vertical.
What is the tension in the string at this instant?
(A) 11.8 N (B) 12.5 N
(C) 13.2 N (D) 13.7 N
-27
24. A proton (of mass 1.67 x 10 kg) is accelerated from rest in a particle acceleration (cyclotron).
It travels in a very nearly circular path whose diameter very gradually increases over many
revolutions to a final value of 1.2 m when the proton reaches a kinetic energy of 5.0 x 10-13 J.
What is the centripetal acceleration of the proton in its final circular orbit?
(A) 1.25 x 1014 ms-2 (B) 2.50 x 1014 ms-2
(C) 5.00 x 1014 ms-2 (D) 10.0 x 1014 ms-2
25. A stone of mass m is attached to a sting. The stone is rotating in a vertical circle of radius r with
a constant angular speed w as shown.
The acceleration of free fall is g.
What is the variation in magnitude of the tension in the string during one revolution of the
stone?
(A) Zero (B) 2mg
(C) mrw2 (D) 2mrw2
26. A tennis ball is attached to a light string that is fixed to a pole. The tennis ball travels round the
pole in a horizontal circle at a constant speed that is high enough for the string to be almost
horizontal.
Which diagram shows the forces acting on the string?
27. The diagram shows a child sitting on a playground turntable, which is turning with constant
angular velocity.
Which diagram shows the forces the acting on the child when in the position shown?
28. On a fairground ride, passengers are rotated in a vertical circle of radius 4.00 m. passengers
complete one revolution in 3.70 s.
A passenger of mass 77.0 kg is shown in the diagram when at the top of the circle and when at
the bottom of the circle.
Which force does the ride on the passenger in each position?
Force at top Force at bottom
A 1640 N down 133 N up
B 1640 N up 133 N down
C 133 N down 1640 N up
D 133 N up 1640 N down
