Original figure description: The picture is a race car with large wheels turning on a track.
This Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 race car moves in a circular path as it makes the turn. Its wheels also spin rapidly. The same physical principles are involved in both of these motions. (Richard Munckton).
You may recall learning about various aspects of motion along a straight line: kinematics (where we learned about displacement, velocity, and acceleration), projectile motion (a special case of two-dimensional kinematics), force, and Newton’s laws of motion. In some ways, this chapter is a continuation of Newton’s laws of motion. Recall that Newton’s first law tells us that objects move along a straight line at constant speed unless a net external force acts on them. Therefore, if an object moves along a circular path, such as the car in the photo, it must be experiencing an external force. In this chapter, we explore both circular motion and rotational motion.
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