Angular Acceleration

What Is Angular Acceleration?

For an object in a circular motion, angular velocity varies with time and this change in angular velocity is called angular acceleration. It is a vector quantity that has both magnitude and direction and is also known as rotational acceleration. It can be interpreted as the time rate of change in the angular velocity. The image given below tells us about angular acceleration....

Angular Acceleration Unit

The direction of the angular acceleration is always perpendicular to the plane of rotation. When the object rotates clockwise, then the angular acceleration points away from the observer, if the object rotates counterclockwise, then the vector of angular acceleration points toward the viewer....

Angular Acceleration Formula

α = dω/dt where,α is the angular accelerationω is the angular velocityt is the time taken by the object If angular displacement θ is given then the angular acceleration is calculated as, α = d2θ/dt2...

Derivation

Suppose an object is doing circular motion with a linear velocity v, angular velocity ω on a circular path of radius r in time t. Now, we know the angular acceleration of an object is the first derivative of its angular velocity with respect to time. So we get, α = dω/dt   ……. (1) Also we know that the angular velocity of an object is the first derivative of its radius with respect to time. ω = dθ/dt   ……. (2) Substituting (2) in (1) we get, α = d(dθ/dt)/dt α = d2θ/dt2 This derives the formula for angular acceleration....

How is Angular Acceleration Determined?

Angular acceleration is the rate at which the angular speed changes with respect to the time taken of a rotating object. Angular acceleration is a pseudovector quantity. that focuses on a path along with the turning pivot. Its unit is radians/s2 and is calculated by the equation discussed below,...

What Causes Angular Acceleration?

If an object is pivoted at one endpoint and a force is applied on the other endpoint, then this applied force tends to rotate the object and is called torque. The torque applied on the body is directly proportional to the angular acceleration of the object, i.e. the more torque is applied the more the angular acceleration of the object....

Solved Examples on Angular Acceleration

Example 1: Calculate the angular acceleration of an object if its angular velocity changes at the rate of 50 rad/s for 5 seconds....

FAQs on Angular Acceleration

Question 1: What is angular acceleration?...