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NCEA Level 3 Circular and Rotational Motion — practice questions

Explore 28 free Circular and Rotational Motion questions in NCEA Level 3 Physics. Open each question or exercise to read its content, reference answers and available explanation.

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Circular and Rotational Motion questions and exercises with answers

Showing questions 1–28 of 28.

How is rotational motion defined?Read the answer and worked solution →How is angular speed defined?Read the answer and worked solution →What is tangential velocity?Read the answer and worked solution →A clock tower's clock has a radius of 1.0 m. Through what angle does the hour hand rotate going from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m.?Read the answer and worked solution →A car tire of radius 0.300 m is on a car travelling at 15.0 m/s. What is the tire's angular speed?Read the answer and worked solution →An earth mover has tires of radius 1.20 m and travels at the same 15.0 m/s as a car with 0.300 m tires. What is the earth mover's tire angular speed?Read the answer and worked solution →What is the angle, in degrees, between the hour hand and the minute hand of a clock showing 9:00 a.m.?Read the answer and worked solution →A clock has a radius of 0.2 m. What is the approximate arc length between the hour hand and the minute hand when the clock shows 10:00 a.m.?Read the answer and worked solution →An object makes exactly one revolution every five seconds. What is its angular speed?Read the answer and worked solution →What defines uniform circular motion?Read the answer and worked solution →When you feel flung outward while a car turns a corner, what is that sensation attributed to?Read the answer and worked solution →A car follows a curve of radius 500 m at a speed of 25.0 m/s. What is the magnitude of its centripetal acceleration?Read the answer and worked solution →A 900 kg car rounds a 600 m radius curve on level ground at 25.0 m/s. What centripetal force does this require?Read the answer and worked solution →What centripetal acceleration do passengers feel in a car moving at 12 m/s along a curve of radius 2.0 m?Read the answer and worked solution →An object follows a path of radius of curvature 0.2 m at an angular velocity of 5 rad/s. What is its centripetal acceleration?Read the answer and worked solution →Two clock hands separate an arc length of 1.0 m on a clock of radius 0.70 m. What angle of rotation, in degrees, separates them?Read the answer and worked solution →A clock has a radius of 0.5 m. What is the tangential speed of the outermost point on its minute hand?Read the answer and worked solution →What centripetal force is needed for a 1,600 kg car to round a 100 m radius curve at 12 m/s?Read the answer and worked solution →What frictional force lets a 1,000 kg car round a 20 m radius curve at 30 m/s without sliding?Read the answer and worked solution →How is angular acceleration defined?Read the answer and worked solution →By the convention used for angular acceleration's sign, which direction of rotation counts as positive?Read the answer and worked solution →What is torque, in physical terms?Read the answer and worked solution →What is the lever arm, in the definition of torque?Read the answer and worked solution →For a given force, how should it be applied to a lever arm to maximize the torque produced?Read the answer and worked solution →A person applies a 12 N force 1.0 m from a pivot point, perpendicular to the lever arm. How much torque results?Read the answer and worked solution →An object's angular velocity changes from 3 rad/s clockwise to 8 rad/s clockwise over 5 s. What is its angular acceleration?Read the answer and worked solution →An object's angular acceleration is 36 rad/s^2 and it starts at an angular velocity of 6.0 rad/s. What is its angular velocity after 5.0 s?Read the answer and worked solution →A fan is switched on and undergoes an angular acceleration of 150 rad/s^2 from rest. How long does it take to reach its maximum angular velocity of 50 rad/s?Read the answer and worked solution →

Worked practice questions

How is rotational motion defined?

  1. Circular motion of an object about its axis of rotation
  2. Any motion where the object speeds up over time
  3. Motion that always follows a straight line
  4. Motion where the velocity never changes
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Correct answer: A. Circular motion of an object about its axis of rotation

1. Rotational motion is defined around an axis, not by whether speed or velocity is changing. 2. The motion traces a circular path around that axis of rotation. 3. A car speeding up along a straight road is not rotating, even though its speed is changing. _Source: OpenStax Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Circular and Rotational Motion", section 6.1 Angle of Rotation and Angular Velocity_

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How is angular speed defined?

  1. The rate at which the radius of curvature changes
  2. The rate at which the angle of rotation changes
  3. The total angle swept out over an object's whole lifetime
  4. The distance an object covers divided by its mass
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Correct answer: B. The rate at which the angle of rotation changes

1. Angular speed answers how fast an object is rotating, not how far it has moved in a straight line. 2. It is defined as omega = delta theta / delta t. 3. An object sweeping a greater angle in the same time has a greater angular speed. _Source: OpenStax Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Circular and Rotational Motion", section 6.1 Angle of Rotation and Angular Velocity_

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What is tangential velocity?

  1. The linear velocity of a point on a rotating object
  2. The average angular velocity over a full revolution
  3. The velocity component pointing toward the center
  4. The velocity of the axis of rotation itself
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Correct answer: A. The linear velocity of a point on a rotating object

1. A point on a spinning object still has an ordinary linear velocity at each instant. 2. That instantaneous linear velocity, tangent to the circular path, is the tangential velocity. 3. It differs from centripetal acceleration, which points toward the center rather than along the path. _Source: OpenStax Physics (CC BY 4.0), Ch 6 "Circular and Rotational Motion", section 6.1 Angle of Rotation and Angular Velocity_

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