tangential acceleration

(noun)

The acceleration in a direction tangent to the circle at the point of interest in circular motion.

Related Terms

Examples of tangential acceleration in the following topics:

  • Angular Acceleration, Alpha

    • This acceleration is called tangential acceleration, at.
    • Tangential acceleration refers to changes in the magnitude of velocity but not its direction.
    • Tangential acceleration at is directly related to the angular acceleration and is linked to an increase or decrease in the velocity (but not its direction).
    • Centripetal and tangential acceleration are thus perpendicular to each other.
    • This acceleration is called tangential acceleration.

  • Overview of Non-Uniform Circular Motion

    • The change in direction is accounted by radial acceleration (centripetal acceleration), which is given by following relation: $a_r = \frac{v^2}{r}$.
    • A change in $v$ will change the magnitude of radial acceleration.
    • The greater the speed, the greater the radial acceleration.
    • We need a tangential force to affect the change in the magnitude of a tangential velocity.
    • The corresponding acceleration is called tangential acceleration.

  • Circular Motion

    • An object in circular motion undergoes acceleration due to centripetal force in the direction of the center of rotation.
    • Since the velocity vector of the object is changing, an acceleration is occurring.
    • The direction of the velocity along the circular trajectory is tangential.
    • Therefore, the force (and therefore the acceleration) in uniform direction motion is in the radial direction.
    • The equation for the acceleration $a$ required to sustain uniform circular motion is:

  • Centripetial Acceleration

    • Since the speed is constant, one would not usually think that the object is accelerating.
    • Thus, it is said to be accelerating.
    • One can feel this acceleration when one is on a roller coaster.
    • This feeling is an acceleration.
    • A brief overview of centripetal acceleration for high school physics students.

  • Motion with Constant Acceleration

    • Constant acceleration occurs when an object's velocity changes by an equal amount in every equal time period.
    • Acceleration can be derived easily from basic kinematic principles.
    • Assuming acceleration to be constant does not seriously limit the situations we can study and does not degrade the accuracy of our treatment, because in a great number of situations, acceleration is constant.
    • When it is not, we can either consider it in separate parts of constant acceleration or use an average acceleration over a period of time.
    • Due to the algebraic properties of constant acceleration, there are kinematic equations that relate displacement, initial velocity, final velocity, acceleration, and time.

  • Relationship Between Torque and Angular Acceleration

    • Torque is equal to the moment of inertia times the angular acceleration.
    • Torque and angular acceleration are related by the following formula where is the objects moment of inertia and $\alpha$ is the angular acceleration .
    • If you replace torque with force and rotational inertia with mass and angular acceleration with linear acceleration, you get Newton's Second Law back out.
    • Torque, Angular Acceleration, and the Role of the Church in the French Revolution
    • Express the relationship between the torque and the angular acceleration in a form of equation

  • Ideal Conductors

    • The electric field (Etan) and electric flux density (Dtan) tangential to the surface of a conductor must be equal to 0.
    • This is because any such field or flux that is tangential to the surface of the conductor must also exist inside the conductor, which by definition touches the tangential field or density at one point.

  • Constant Angular Acceleration

    • Constant angular acceleration describes the relationships among angular velocity, angle of rotation, and time.
    • We have already studied kinematic equations governing linear motion under constant acceleration:
    • Similarly, the kinematics of rotational motion describes the relationships among rotation angle, angular velocity, angular acceleration, and time.
    • By using the relationships a=rα, v=rω, and x=rθ, we derive all the other kinematic equations for rotational motion under constant acceleration:
    • Relate angle of rotation, angular velocity, and angular acceleration to their equivalents in linear kinematics

  • Graphical Interpretation

    • Acceleration is accompanied by a force, as described by Newton's Second Law; the force, as a vector, is the product of the mass of the object being accelerated and the acceleration (vector), or $F=ma$.
    • Because acceleration is velocity in $\displaystyle \frac{m}{s}$ divided by time in s, we can further derive a graph of acceleration from a graph of an object's speed or position.
    • From this graph, we can further derive an acceleration vs time graph.
    • The acceleration graph shows that the object was increasing at a positive constant acceleration during this time.
    • This is depicted as a negative value on the acceleration graph.

  • Kinematics of UCM

    • The acceleration can be written as:
    • This acceleration, responsible for the uniform circular motion, is called centripetal acceleration.
    • Any force or combination of forces can cause a centripetal or radial acceleration.
    • According to Newton's second law of motion, net force is mass times acceleration.
    • For uniform circular motion, the acceleration is the centripetal acceleration: $a = a_c$.