PHYS 102 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Elastic Energy, Rotational Energy, Angular Velocity
8 May 2017
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Document Summary
The rotation angle ( ) is the angular equivalent to distance, written as the greek letter theta. It is measured in radians (technically the unitless ratio of arc length over distance, s/r, but often treated as a unit itself). There are 2 radians in a circle (or 360 degrees). Angular velocity ( ) is the change in rotation angle per unit time, written as the greek letter omega. It is the angular equivalent of velocity and is measured in radians/second. Imagine you have a point that is going in a circle at a constant rate. At any instant in time, the particle will have both an angular velocity (the number of radians that the particle covers per second) and an instantaneous linear velocity (tangent to the circle). While the direction of the linear velocity changes constantly, its magnitude is always the same. The direction and magnitude of the angular velocity is the same.
