In order to discover how you can use the radial acceleration formula in order to perform complex calculations about items which move in a circular motion, simply continue reading to discover a guide to radial acceleration.
What does the term radial acceleration refer to?
Whether you’ve heard the term radial acceleration before and were confused about its definition or you’ve just come across the term radial acceleration, you may be curious about the definition of radial acceleration.
Simply put, radial acceleration refers to the speed of any moving object, which has been altered, sometimes by the moving object rapidly changing direction. Radial acceleration typically measures acceleration of a moving object, which moves in a circular motion or pattern.
What are the units of measurement that are used to measure radial acceleration?
The units of measurement, which you’ll need to use in order to be able to measure radial acceleration include radians per second and meters per second squared.
What is a simple definition for the term centripetal acceleration?
The term centripetal acceleration is also referred to sometimes as radial acceleration and describes a moving object which continues to move in a circle and which has an acceleration which is directed to the middle of its circle.
What are the units of measurement that are used to measure centripetal acceleration?
The units of measurement that you would use in order to accurately measure centripetal acceleration include meters per second squared. Which happens to be the most used unit of measure to measure centripetal acceleration.
How to calculate the radial acceleration:
In order to calculate the radial acceleration, you’ll need to use the radial acceleration formula, to get an accurate answer. The radial acceleration formula involves dividing the velocity by the given radius.
Why does radial acceleration occur:
If you were wondering why radial acceleration occurs, the simple answer is that radial acceleration occurs when there is a change in the direction of the velocity.
What types of situations would you use a radial acceleration formula in?
Any time that you seek to measure the acceleration of an item which is moving in a circular pattern such as a merry go round, you can’t go wrong using the formula velocity divided by the given radius.
Another key example of a moving object that continuously moves in a circular pattern is planet Earth, which moves in a radial pattern around the sun and which can also be described as being directed by the centrifugal force, which in this case is the sun.
The Earth moving around the sun as an example of radial acceleration:
If you would like to measure how fast the Earth moves around the sun, you could use the acceleration formula which you’ve read about above, to find out. Assuming of course that you’d have all the numbers which you’d need to complete your calculation.
If you’re curious, the radius of planet Earth’s continuous orbit is 149.6 million kms and the Earth’s current rate of velocity is approximately 29800 meters per second. So the answer which you should get to your maths problem is 0.00593 meters per second squared.
Hopefully, you now have all the information which you need in order to be able to solve complex radial acceleration problems on your own.
Leave a Reply