Teacher Demonstration
Use the live model as a shared screen demonstration before students try their own predictions and observations.
Workshop Resource
Uniformcircularmotionfan
Analyse Uniformcircularmotionfan as a Tracker video-analysis activity for circular motion, using tracked positions to reason about changing velocity direction and centripetal acceleration.
1. Watch or Launch
Launch the Interactive
Open the simulation, adjust the controls, and compare what changes on screen before answering the concept-check questions.
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2. Big Ideas
Key idea Circular-motion video analysis shows that constant speed is not the same as constant velocity. The object can keep the same speed while its velocity direction changes, requiring inward centripetal acceleration.
What Students Can Learn
- Distinguish speed from velocity direction.
- Identify tangent velocity and inward acceleration.
- Use tracked positions to locate the circular path and centre.
- Connect smaller radius or greater speed to stronger centripetal demand.
Guiding Question
How can the object be accelerating if its speed appears almost constant?
3. Try the Investigation
Track the Path
Use the tracked points to confirm that the object is moving around a centre rather than in a straight line.
Mark Directions
Identify the tangent direction of velocity and the inward direction toward the centre.
Compare Intervals
Check whether equal time intervals give similar arc spacing while direction changes.
Explain the Acceleration
Use changing velocity direction as evidence for centripetal acceleration.
4. Teacher Notes
Lesson Use
Use this to challenge the shortcut that constant speed means no acceleration. The key is that velocity includes direction.
Discussion Prompts
Ask: Where is the centre? Which way is the velocity at this instant? Which way must acceleration point for the path to curve?
Teaching Moves
Ask students to draw tangent velocity arrows and inward acceleration arrows on three tracked positions before writing the explanation.
5. Concept Check
These questions are generated from the topic and the concept illustrated by the simulation. Use them after students have explored the model.
Concept Score
Correct first attempts build a streak and unlock higher point multipliers on this device.
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Answer each question once to build your streak.
1. Why can circular motion involve acceleration even at constant speed?
2. In circular motion, instantaneous velocity is usually...
3. Where does centripetal acceleration point?
4. What evidence can Tracker provide?
5. What misconception should students avoid?
Expert Challenge
Unlocks after 3 correct concept-check answers on this page.
1. A student says distance and displacement are the same because both use metres. What is the best feedback?
2. An object returns to its starting point after a trip. What can be true?
3. What is the best way to distinguish speed from velocity?
4. A graph shows position changing faster and faster. What should the learner infer first?
5. What makes a kinematics explanation strong before discussing forces?
7. Learning Pulse
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