A car travels in a circular motion. Which of the following statements is true?
- A.Distance travelled by the car will always be less than displacement of the car.
- B.Distance travelled by the car will always be more than displacement of the car.
- C.Distance travelled by the car will always be equal to displacement of the car.
- D.Distance travelled by the car will be zero when displacement is zero.
Correct answer
Explanation
The correct answer is B. Distance is the length of the actual path and displacement is the straight line from the start to the finish, so on a curved path the two can never be equal: the arc of a circle is always longer than the chord joining its ends. Option A reverses the relation; displacement can never exceed distance for any motion, since the shortest route between two points is the straight line. Option C is true only for motion in a straight line without reversal, which is exactly what circular motion is not. Option D is the opposite of the most striking result of this chapter: when the car completes one full circle it returns to its starting point, so the displacement is zero while the distance travelled equals the circumference, which is two pi multiplied by the radius. Distance is a scalar and can only increase; displacement is a vector and can increase, decrease or vanish.
Read the full article: Friction and Circular Motion: Laws, Formulas and PYQs
Practice Questions
View allWhen a force resists the relative motion between two surfaces, it is called _______
- A.Resistance
- B.Convection
- C.Friction
- D.Induction
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Friction is defined as the force that opposes the relative motion, or the tendency of relative motion, between two surfaces in contact; it acts along the surfaces and always against the direction of motion.
Read the full explanation →Which of the following statements about the coefficient of friction is correct?
- A.It is measured in newton
- B.It has no unit and no dimensions
- C.It is measured in newton per square metre
- D.It is measured in joule
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The coefficient of friction is the ratio of the limiting or kinetic frictional force to the normal reaction, and since both are forces the ratio is a pure number; the same reasoning applies to other ratios such as the refractive index and relative density.
Read the full explanation →For the same pair of surfaces, which of the following types of friction is the smallest?
- A.Static friction
- B.Limiting friction
- C.Sliding friction
- D.Rolling friction
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When a body rolls, the surfaces in contact change continuously and the irregularities have no time to interlock deeply, so rolling friction is very much smaller than sliding friction; this single fact is the reason the wheel was invented and the reason a ball bearing is fitted wherever a shaft…
Read the full explanation →In uniform circular motion, which of the following quantities remains constant?
- A.Velocity
- B.Speed
- C.Acceleration
- D.Linear momentum
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In uniform circular motion the body covers equal arcs in equal times, so its speed, a scalar, does not change; its kinetic energy and its angular velocity are constant too.
Read the full explanation →A body of mass 5 kg is rotating with angular velocity 10 rad/s in a circular path of radius 0.1 m. Determine the centrifugal force acting on the body.
- A.100 N
- B.50 N
- C.80 N
- D.60 N
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The centrifugal force has the same magnitude as the centripetal force, which for a body moving in a circle is the mass multiplied by the square of the angular velocity multiplied by the radius.
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