AP Physics 1 : Period and Frequency

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for AP Physics 1

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Example Questions

Example Question #171 : Circular, Rotational, And Harmonic Motion

A bowling ball of mass  and radius  is thrown with a rotational kinetic energy of . Find its period.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

The expression for rotational kinetic energy is:

Where I is the moment of inertia for a solid sphere:

And w is the angular velocity:

Plugging these in, we get:

Rearranging for linear velocity:

The expression for period is the circumference of the ball divided by the linear velocity of the ball:

Plugging in expressions, we get:

We have all of these values, so time to plug and chug:

Example Question #11 : Period And Frequency

A ferris wheel has a diameter of 60 meters. The carriages on the outside of the wheel are traveling at an instantaneous velocity of . What is the period of rotation of the wheel?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

We can calculate the circumference of the wheel using the given radius:

We can use this and the given velocity to find the period:

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