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UNIVERSITY OF BUCHAREST
FACULTY OF PHYSICS Guest
2024-11-23 17:54 |
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Conference: Bucharest University Faculty of Physics 2022 Meeting
Section: Physics Education
Title:
Excel didactic tools for the study of the circular motion
Authors:
Adriana RADU (1,2), Ionel GRIGORE (3), Valentin BARNA (1)
*
Affiliation:
1) Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest, Bucharest-Măgurele, Romania
2) “Mihai Viteazul” National College, Ploieşti, Romania
3) “Ion Luca Caragiale” National College, Ploieşti, Romania
E-mail
fizica.prahova@yahoo.com; grigore_1965@yahoo.com; barnavalentin@yahoo.com
Keywords:
Excel, didactic tool, circular motion, angular velocity, centripetal acceleration, physics education
Abstract:
This paper describes two interactive didactic tools created with Excel spreadsheets for the study of the circular motion. With the help of the first tool we can study the uniform circular motion, while with the second the non-uniform circular motion. For a moment in time introduced in the input data we calculate the angular coordinate of the mass point in the circular motion and the number of rotations carried out until the respective moment. Also, we calculate the Cartesian coordinates in relation to the reference system whose origin coincides with the centre of the circular trajectory. Alongside the input data, we have rendered the motion chart so that by modifying the moment in time we can visualize the motion of the mass point on the circle. We have shown how to obtain the tool for the study of the non-uniform circular motion by completing and adapting the tool spreadsheets for the study of the uniform circular motion. The classroom use of these tools helps students with a better grasp of the analogy between the measures that describe a linear motion and, respectively, a circular motion. A series of notions can be clarified such as angular velocity, angular acceleration, centripetal acceleration etc. At the same time, students have the possibility of exploring the connection between the polar coordinates and the Cartesian coordinates in describing the circular motion. The tools can be adapted to numerically and interactively solve some common problems of circular motion. It is thus shown how the issue of meeting of two mobiles moving at different velocities on a circle of a given radius.
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