- #1
raydred
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I'm having trouble grasping the concept of centripetal acceleration on circular motion.
I understand angular velocity. From there what my books gives me is the centripetal accel formula. ac=(v^2)/R
I don't notice any acceleration in a circular motion. Nothing's accelerating.
What velocity is changing? In what direction? How would I calculate the position of an object by it's centripetal acceleration if:
Extra
Continuing my spoiler's line of though, then again what's the difference between gravitational force and centripetal force?
Edit:I hope this is the right section. I hope I haven't forgot to say something. I hope someone can answer. Thank you.
I understand angular velocity. From there what my books gives me is the centripetal accel formula. ac=(v^2)/R
I don't notice any acceleration in a circular motion. Nothing's accelerating.
What velocity is changing? In what direction? How would I calculate the position of an object by it's centripetal acceleration if:
- The object has "f" angular velocity.
- It is at "h" distance from the object it is orbiting.
- The object it is orbiting around has m mass.
Extra
The first thing I thought was that the centripetal acceleration was the acceleration of the angular velocity. So in a circular motion it would have to be ac=0 or it would disrupt the circle.
But I can't make ac=0 without having either v=0 or R=0. If this was true then the centripetal accel wouldn't be compatible with circular motion.
Then I kept reading in the internet, including in this site, that some regarded it as imaginary. Then I guess thought that maybe it was used to simplify some calculations related to centripetal force for circular motion but it's still blurry in my mind.
But I can't make ac=0 without having either v=0 or R=0. If this was true then the centripetal accel wouldn't be compatible with circular motion.
Then I kept reading in the internet, including in this site, that some regarded it as imaginary. Then I guess thought that maybe it was used to simplify some calculations related to centripetal force for circular motion but it's still blurry in my mind.
Continuing my spoiler's line of though, then again what's the difference between gravitational force and centripetal force?
Edit:I hope this is the right section. I hope I haven't forgot to say something. I hope someone can answer. Thank you.