Rotation Angle and Angular Velocity
Angular Velocity
How fast is an object rotating? We define angular velocity as the rate of change of an angle. In symbols, this is
where an angular rotation takes place in a time
The greater the rotation angle in a given amount of time, the greater the angular velocity. The units for angular velocity are radians per second (rad/s).
Angular velocity is analogous to linear velocity
. To get the precise relationship between angular and linear velocity, we again consider a pit on the rotating CD. This pit moves an arc length
in a time
, and so
it has a linear velocity
From we see that
Substituting this into the expression for
gives
We write this relationship in two different ways and gain two different insights:
The first relationship in or
states that the linear velocity
is proportional to the distance from the center of rotation, thus, it is largest for a point on the rim (largest
), as you might expect. We
can also call this linear speed
of a point on the rim the tangential speed. The second relationship in
or
can be illustrated by considering the tire of a moving car. Note that the speed of a point on the
rim of the tire is the same as the speed
of the car. See Figure 6.5. So the faster the car moves, the faster the tire spins-large
means a large
, because
Similarly, a larger-radius tire rotating at the same angular
velocity
will produce a greater linear speed
for the car.
Figure 6.5 A car moving at a velocity to the right has a tire rotating with an angular velocity
. The speed of the tread of the tire relative to the axle is
, the same as if the car were jacked up. Thus the car moves
forward at linear velocity
, where
is the tire radius.
larger angular velocity for the tire means a greater velocity for the car.
Example 6.1 How Fast Does a Car Tire Spin?
Calculate the angular velocity of a 0.300 m radius car tire when the car travels at 15.0m/s (about 54km/h). See Figure 6.5.
Strategy
Because the linear speed of the tire rim is the same as the speed of the car, we have . The radius of the tire is given to be
. Knowing
and
, we can use the second relationship in
to calculate the angular velocity.
Solution
To calculate the angular velocity, we will use the following relationship:
Substituting the knowns,
Discussion
When we cancel units in the above calculation, we get 50.0/s. But the angular velocity must have units of rad/s. Because radians are actually unitless (radians are defined as a ratio of distance), we can simply insert them into the answer for the angular velocity. Also note that if an earth mover with much larger tires, say 1.20 m in radius, were moving at the same speed of 15.0 m/s, its tires would rotate more slowly. They would have an angular velocity
Both and
have directions (hence they are angular and linear velocities, respectively). Angular velocity has only two directions with respect to the axis of rotation -it is either clockwise or counterclockwise. Linear velocity is tangent to the path, as illustrated in Figure 6.6.
Take-Home Experiment
Tie an object to the end of a string and swing it around in a horizontal circle above your head (swing at your wrist). Maintain uniform speed as the object swings and measure the angular velocity of the motion. What is the approximate speed of the object? Identify a point close to your hand and take appropriate measurements to calculate the linear speed at this point. Identify other circular motions and measure their angular velocities.
Figure 6.6 As an object moves in a circle, here a fly on the edge of an old-fashioned vinyl record, its instantaneous velocity is always tangent to the circle. The direction of the angular velocity is clockwise in this case.