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Need help in understanding Tangential Acceleration [closed]

I am studying Circular motion and I am confused about tangential acceleration and tangential velocity. I am studying uniform circular motion and it says the tangential acceleration is $0$ in uniform ...
Rushikesh's user avatar
-1 votes
1 answer
44 views

Components of velocity in projectile motion [closed]

I came across this question in my physics textbook (Gr12) and I was hoping someone could explain the solution to me A ball is thrown horizontally off a building at $8.2\,\text{m}/\text{s}$. At a ...
Nathan's user avatar
  • 3
0 votes
2 answers
49 views

Equations of motion for constant acceleration

I read that the equations of motion for a constant acceleration can be represented in a scalar form as well as a vector form, but what's the need to do them in vector form what extra can we do by ...
Manish's user avatar
  • 51
-1 votes
1 answer
49 views

Finding radial acceleration from $xy$ vector cordinate [closed]

I know that is a silly question but i cant figure it out. Suppose we have $$ \textbf{R} = A i + B j $$ and want to find the radial acceleration. We know that the radial acceleration is $$ \ddot{r} -...
Zahra's user avatar
  • 15
-2 votes
3 answers
96 views

Why is it wrong to find centripetal acceleration using change of velocity over change of time?

This question asks to find the centripetal acceleration by giving the initial and final velocity over the change of time. As shown, my book combined two rules to find the acceleration. I utterly ...
Manar's user avatar
  • 377
-2 votes
1 answer
91 views

From where does the expression of the tangential accerelation come from?

I've seen so many times that the expression of the tangential acceleration is known to be: $$a_t=\ddot{s}$$ but from the expression of the acceleration in spherical coordinates, in the tangential ...
Ulshy's user avatar
  • 69
4 votes
2 answers
623 views

Is there a relationship between the magnitude of the velocity and acceleration vector?

Given a path, how do the magnitude of the velocity and acceleration vector along the path correlate? I am confused due to the fact that the acceleration is the change of velocity over time and in ...
Math98's user avatar
  • 41
2 votes
1 answer
72 views

(Circular motion) Acceleration is given, so why asked for more? [closed]

The full question is below. A car starts from rest and moves around a circular track of radius $32.0\,\text m$. Its speed increases at the constant rate of $0.500\,\text{m/s}^2$. (a) What is the ...
Stanley's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
2 answers
414 views

Why does tangential acceleration become 0 when the velocity is max? [closed]

I know that tangential acceleration equal to zero when the circular motion is uniform, but why is it equal to zero, when the velocity is max or min? Because there is no relation between the value of ...
Alia's user avatar
  • 11
0 votes
1 answer
43 views

Are terms tangential acceleration and normal acceleration only used for instantaneous velocity?

Are terms tangential acceleration and normal acceleration only used for instantaneous velocity?
Naman Singh's user avatar
1 vote
6 answers
113 views

If a body moves along a path (any path, not just circular) with constant speed, is it's tangential acceleration necessarily zero?

If a body moves along a path (any path, not just circular) with constant speed, is it's tangential acceleration necessarily zero? I could only find general proofs for the case of circular motion and ...
Rebecca Elkouby's user avatar
6 votes
4 answers
838 views

How can I write the vector form of this equation, $a = vdv/dx$?

My Physics teacher was deriving the 'Work-Energy Theorem' for a single particle in the class; where after doing the vector addition of all the forces acting on the particle, he put the resultant of ...
Juhi Kumari's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
910 views

Mathematical proof for: Acceleration always orthogonal to its velocity changes its direction

Whenever I ask this doubt that how can force perpendicular to objects velocity can change its direction but cant change its magnitude I get proof for only the magnitude will be constant that is: no ...
Rahul Einstien's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
358 views

Circular motion equivalent in three dimensions [closed]

Are there equations or even a concept of circular motion/tangential acceleration/centripetal acceleration in three dimensions? Maybe something called "spherical acceleration"? or am I just ...
RhinoPak's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
244 views

Why does Taylor take the derivative or only $r \bf{\hat r}$ for the velocity/derivative of the position vector?

Why does Taylor take the derivative or only $r \bf{\hat r}$ for the velocity/derivative of the position vector? If the position of an object in Polar coordinates is given by (r, theta), why is the '...
Basican's user avatar
  • 312
0 votes
2 answers
229 views

Scalar term for acceleration [duplicate]

Consider the following definitions: Distance is the magnitude of the displacement Speed is the magnitude of the velocity X is the magnitude of the acceleration Is ...
user877329's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
213 views

Is there anything like negative deceleration?

I kinda understand acceleration, deceleration and negative acceleration but does anything like negative deceleration exist?
Aarya Chavan's user avatar
-3 votes
2 answers
267 views

What exactly is happening to acceleration when direction changes?

As direction changes i know that acceleration occurs but what exactly is happening to it, is it increasing acceleration, decreasing acceleration, constant acceleration, negative acceleration or ...
Aarya Chavan's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
55 views

What do you call $ \frac{d^2 r}{dt^2}$ in polar coordinates? [duplicate]

In polar coordinates, one finds centripetal acceleration as: $$ a_c = \frac{d^2 r}{dt^2}- \frac{v^2}{r}$$ Where $|r|$ is distance from center to particle, $v$ is tangential velocity. My question is ...
Brian's user avatar
  • 8,040
15 votes
3 answers
4k views

Why does solving the differential equation for circular motion lead to an illogical result?

In uniform circular motion, acceleration is expressed by the equation $$a = \frac{v^2}{r}. $$ But this is a differential equation and solving it gets the result $$v = -\frac{r}{c+t}.$$ This doesn’t ...
Jmh's user avatar
  • 153
0 votes
2 answers
353 views

Why isn't tangential acceleration just always 0?

This is probably a very stupid question but I can't help me. Tangential acceleration is $\vec{a_t}=\frac{dv}{dt}\frac{\vec{v}}{v}=\frac{\vec{v} \cdot \vec{a}}{v} \frac{\vec{v}}{v}$. Since $\vec{a}$ is ...
Quaeram's user avatar
  • 15
0 votes
1 answer
457 views

Calculating 2D acceleration vector direction to most quickly reach a point

I am currently writing a game where you fly a starship in 2D space. In a given timestep, the ship has the ability to accelerate at constant rate in any direction. The player can specify a point at ...
wilderness26's user avatar
3 votes
3 answers
727 views

Proof of $a = v^2/r$ using similar triangles

The book states that the ‘change in velocity’ triangle and the displacement triangle has the same angle theta. But I don’t get it? How can we prove that the two triangles will have the same angle?
Atul Anand's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
159 views

One object moves along the cycloid at a constant rate, how about its acceleration? [closed]

We know that the parametric equation: $$x=R(\theta+\sin(\theta))$$ $$y=-R(1+\cos(\theta))$$ and the constant velocity $c$. How do I prove that the acceleration of the object in the $y$ direction is ...
Joy's user avatar
  • 21
0 votes
0 answers
72 views

Acceleration in polar coordinates

Is transverse acceleration always perpendicular to the normal acceleration, in polar coordinates?
xmalinaxpolo's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
788 views

How do I get the total acceleration from 3 axes, in negative?

For a project, I'm working with acceleration data recorded by triaxial accelerometers. This means that I have accelerations in the x, y, and z axes. I found the almost exact same question from a few ...
T E's user avatar
  • 11
0 votes
1 answer
109 views

For an airplane moving north from some latitude (say $30^{\circ}N$), why does rotation of the Earth cause an increase in apparent drag?

I'm not able to understand the answer to this example: Example 10 from the Curtis Orbital Mechanics text book : An airplane of mass $70 000\ \mathrm{ kg}$ is traveling due north at latitude $30^\circ$...
supersonic's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
115 views

Why isn't tangential acceleration just $a$?

If the tangential acceleration is $\mathrm d|v|/\mathrm dt$ then isn't it just the magnitude of the acceleration of the object because $\mathrm dv/\mathrm dt$ is acceleration?
CatsOnAir's user avatar
  • 139
0 votes
1 answer
129 views

Why intuitively is the tangent vector the derivative of velocity of position with respect to their modulus?

When trying to find the tangential velocity, many textbooks define the tangent direction as one of the following: or Intuitively, why is the tangent vector the derivative of the position with ...
XXb8's user avatar
  • 849
2 votes
7 answers
4k views

The direction of the velocity of a body can change when its acceleration is constant. How is it possible since acceleration is a vector quantity?

As we already know that acceleration is a vector quantity which means that it has both direction as well as magnitude. It can also change given any one of the two or both (magnitude and direction) ...
Snehal Saurabh's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
2k views

Is centripetal acceleration almost perpendicular to velocity or it is exactly perpendicular to velocity?

In all the derivations of centripetal acceleration that I have seen so far, the direction of acceleration is said to be perpendicular to velocity but I think it's not exactly perpendicular to velocity ...
Mr. Anonymous's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
146 views

Do accelerations add the same way velocities add in non-relativistic mechanics? [closed]

Can you add and subtract constant accelerations?
user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
312 views

Motion with constant speed and constant acceleration magnitude

I was reading this and this posts. From what I gather In 2D: Constant speed $||\dot x||=const$ and constant positive magnitude of the acceleration $||\ddot x|| = const$ imply circular motion. In 3D: ...
Euler_Salter's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
114 views

Average velocity and acceleration

I know to obtain the average of some vectors I compute the mean of the one dimensional components of each vector and constitute the average vector. My question is : why is this untrue for average ...
Ahmed Samir's user avatar
1 vote
5 answers
227 views

Acceleration vector at an extremum

A skier moves along a ski-jump ramp. The ramp is straight from point A to point C and curved from point C onward. The skier speeds up as she moves downhill from point A to point E, where her speed is ...
Floatoss's user avatar
  • 169
0 votes
1 answer
531 views

Proving that acceleration perpendicular to velocity only changes it's direction [duplicate]

In a recent class, I learned about centripetal acceleration and that if a body moves in uniform circular motion the direction of velocity continuously changes implying presence of an acceleration. My ...
Lalit Tolani's user avatar
3 votes
2 answers
105 views

Which is the centripetal term here?

In spherical coordinates the acceleration can be written as $$\textbf{a} = \dot{\textbf{v}} = \ddot{r} \hat{\textbf{r}} + \dot{r} ( \dot{θ} \boldsymbol{\hat{\theta}} + \sin θ \dot{\phi} \boldsymbol{\...
Kashmiri's user avatar
  • 1,340
0 votes
1 answer
421 views

Equation for four-acceleration

Wikipedia states that $$ \begin{align} \mathbf{A} =\frac{d\mathbf{U}}{d\tau} &= \left(\gamma_u\dot\gamma_u c,\gamma_u^2\mathbf a+\gamma_u\dot\gamma_u\mathbf u\right) \\ &= \left(\gamma_u^4\...
R. Emery's user avatar
  • 196
0 votes
3 answers
471 views

What is correct definition of tangential acceleration?

Is tangential acceleration the rate of change of magnitude of velocity OR, Is it simply the rate of change of velocity? I am asking this because I am sort of confused, because there is no tangential ...
CREATIVITY Unleashed's user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
380 views

When do you add or subtract vectors? [closed]

so I have a question here: An airplane travelling initially at 240 m/s[28° s of e], takes 35 s to change its velocity to 220 m/s[28°e of s]. what is the average acceleration over this time interval? ...
Hugh Johnson's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
125 views

Apply acceleration that is always opposite to the velocity

I have 2 functions for the $x$ and $y$ components of the velocity of an object ($z$ should always be $0$ in this case) $$V_x(t)=v_{xi}+\int_0^ta_x(t')dt'$$ $$V_y(t)=v_{yi}+\int_0^t(-g+a_y(t'))dt'$$ ...
warhammercasey's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
3k views

How to determine the correct time using quadratic functions if there are multiple "correct" roots exist in a 3D system? [closed]

Time can be calculated from a modified kinematics quadratic formula using the initial velocity, displacement, and acceleration. However, the acceleration vector isn't limited to 1 axis. When applying ...
karamazovbros's user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
62 views

Why don't we use vector sign for quantities in 1D motion? [duplicate]

My school textbook says that we don't need to use unit vectors (i ,j,k) to represent the direction of vectors in 1D motion as + and - sign indicate direction. But that is creating a lot of confusion ...
ayush sharma's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
976 views

How is called the magnitude of acceleration? [duplicate]

According to wikipedia page of velocity: The scalar absolute value (magnitude) of velocity is called speed and according to wikipedia page of acceleration: Accelerations are vector quantities (in ...
Yanis.F's user avatar
  • 113
0 votes
2 answers
94 views

Using centripetal acceleration to find back the velocity magnitude at $t+dt$

Considering a circular motion with no angular acceleration. How can you find the same magnitude for the velocity vector at different time using the formula $v_{t} = v_0 + a.t$ with vectors? The ...
Malcolm's user avatar
  • 51
5 votes
2 answers
476 views

Alternative expression of acceleration in vector form

Let's imagine a one dimensional case, where a particle is moving with a velocity $v$ and an acceleration $a$. Thus $$a=\frac{\mathrm dv}{\mathrm dt}\tag{1}$$ Applying the chain rule, equation $(1)$ ...
user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
3k views

Why is there no tangential acceleration in uniform circular motion? [duplicate]

I need to know what all is remains constant in uniform circular motion. The tangential SPEED, angular velocity and centripetal acceleration right? Why is there no tangential acceleration in uniform ...
Curious 's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
287 views

Trying to prove that the expression for the radial component of the acceleration is equal to $\mathbf v\cdot \mathbf v/r$

I am trying to prove that the normal component of acceleration of a particle undergoing a curvilinear motion is equal to $\mathbf v\cdot \mathbf v/r$. Here $\mathbf v$ is the velocity of the particle ...
It's probable's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
2k views

Direction of average acceleration in circular motion

I know that the instantaneous acceleration is always directed towards the center of the circle.But what about average acceleration. In the above figure my book says place change in velocity along the ...
utkarsh bhatt's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
2k views

How to convert acceleration projection to angle?

See a simple webpage here, for an object, if one know the acceleration in three direction $\hat x, \hat y,\hat z$, one could extracted two of the angle of the object between the plane that's normal ...
ShoutOutAndCalculate's user avatar