Physics Ch 6 Flashcards
Uniform circular motion
motion in a circular path at constant speed
Pure rotational motion
occurs when points in an object move in circular paths centered on one point
Pure translational motion
motion with no rotation
Rotation angle
ratio of the arc length to the radius of curvature
Arc length
distance traveled along a circular path
Radius of curvature
r of the circular path
Radians
units used to measure rotation angles; 2pi rad = 1 revolution; ~57.3 degrees
Angular velocity
rate of change of an angle in rads/s
Centripetal acceleration
acceleration of an object moving in uniform circular motion (resulting from a net external force)
Centrifuge
rotating device used to separate specimens of different densities
Ultracentrifuge
centrifuges with very high centripetal accelerations
Centripetal force
any net force causing uniform circular motion; direction is toward the center of curvature, the same as the direction of centripetal acceleration
Banked curves
a curve where the slope of the road helps you negotiate the curve
Ideal banking
the net external force equals the horizontal centripetal force in the absence of friction
Non-inertial frame of reference
ex. a moving car, b/c it is accelerated to the side
Fictitious force
a force sensed by someone/thing that has no physical origin
Centrifugal force
a fictitious force that tends to throw an object off when the object is rotating in a non-inertial frame of reference
Coriolis force
a fictitious force that can be used by anyone in that frame of reference to explain why objects follow curved paths & allows us to apply Newton’s Laws in non-inertial frames of reference
Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation
states that every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force along a line joining them; the force is directly proportional to the produce of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them
Center of mass
we assume that the body acts as if its entire mass is concentrated at one specific point called this
Gravitational constant
G; a proportionality factor; a universal number equal to 6.673 x 10^-11 N m^2/kg^2
Microgravity
refers to an environment in which the apparent net acceleration of a body is small compared with that produced by Earth at its surface
Kepler’s First Law
the orbit of each planet about the sun is an ellipse with the sun at one focus
Kepler’s Second Law
each planet moves so that an imaginary line drawn from the sun to the planet sweeps out equal areas in equal times
Kepler’s Third Law
the ratio of the squares of the periods of any 2 planets about the sun is equal to the ratio of the cubes of their average distances from the sun
Ideal angle
the angle at which a car can turn safely on a steep curve, which is in proportion to the ideal speed
Ideal speed
maximum safe speed at which a vehicle can turn on a curve without the aid of friction between the tire and the road