Applications of Circular Motion and Gravitation
Basics of Circular Motion and Gravitation
- Objects move in a circular path due to a force that pulls them towards the centre, known as centripetal force.
- Centripetal Force refers to the 'centre-seeking' force that makes body follow a curved path, its direction is always orthogonal to the velocity of the body
- Circular motion obeys Newton’s Laws of Motion, similar to linear motion.
- An object will continue moving in a uniform circular motion until an external force acts upon it.
Applications of Circular Motion
- Satellites moving around a planet follow a circular path due to gravity, showcasing an application of circular motion.
- The spin of the Earth represents circular motion, with gravity holding everything towards the Earth’s centre.
- Roller coasters and Funfair rides like the 'rotor ride' or 'pirate-ship' are real life examples where circular motion principles are employed.
- In sports, discus throw, long jump, hammer throw and other athletic games involve the principles of circular motion.
- Technologies using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) use principles of circular motion and rotation of atoms.
Understanding Gravitation
- Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them - This is the Law of Universal Gravitation.
- The force of gravity decreases as the square of the distance increases between two objects.
- Acceleration due to gravity is the uniform acceleration produced in a freely falling object due to gravitational pull of earth. It is represented by ‘g’, and on the surface of the earth, the value of ‘g’ is approximately 9.8 m/s².
- Gravitational potential energy is energy an object possesses because of its position in a gravitational field.
Applications of Gravitational Force
- Planetary orbits are maintained by the balance of gravitational forces and the inertia of the planets.
- GPS technology relies on understanding gravitational forces to calculate precise locations.
- Gravitational principles are used in designing structures: bridges, buildings, etc, to resist gravitational force.
- Aerospace technology heavily depends on the understanding of gravitational force.