A-level Mathematics/OCR/M2/Uniform Circular Motion

Uniform circular motion describes a body which is following a circular path at a constant speed. For M2 you will only need to consider this where the circular path is horizontal.

Angular velocity is the rate at which a body turns through an angle. It is therefore defined as change in angle/time taken. If a body travels on a circular path, and turns through one revolution per second, its angular velocity is (2π radians) divided by (1 second), so its angular velocity is 2π rad/s.

The usual symbol for angular velocity is ω (a lower-case omega). The body's "tangential speed" and angular velocity are related by the equation v = rω, where v is in m/s and r is the radius of the circle (in m).