Centripetal acceleration
What Centripetal acceleration means in Physics A-Level, as defined for AQA, OCR.
Definitions of Centripetal acceleration
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Reference: OCR
The acceleration of a body moving in a circle at constant speed, acting towards the centre of the circle and perpendicular to the instantaneous velocity.
Directed towards the centre of the circle and has magnitude a = v²/r, where v is the speed and r is the radius.
Topics that use Centripetal acceleration
- Circular motion (A-level only) (AQA A-Level)
- Centripetal force (OCR A-Level)
Related terms
- Centripetal force
- Vector nature of velocity and acceleration
- Difference between speed and velocity
- Newton's first law and inertia
- Relationship between linear and angular quantities
- Rigid-body rotation
- Centripetal acceleration magnitude and direction
- Constant speed in circular motion
Using Centripetal acceleration in the exam
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