Vertical Circular Motion Ideas

Here are some ideas for using the VCM Geogebra tool I made. 

You can find it and use it on TES.com and please have a rummage around and see if there is anything else which is a useful in my shop.

Constrained situation:

1. Show how the height reached by the particle might be limited (why?)

2. Show how the velocity at any position on the circle can be calculated (how?)

3. Show how the speed reaches zero and the particle falls back down, remaining on the circular path. 

4. Show the forces acting in different positions are different. (Why?)

5. Show the contact force can act outwards as well as inwards, and how it holds the particle on the circular path until the velocity is zero.

Unconstrained situation:

1. Show how the particle can complete circles if it has enough energy.

2. Show how if will fall off the circular path if it has enough energy to go higher than the centre but not enough to get to the top of the circle.

3. Show the path of the trajectory when if falls off the circular path.

4. Explain the change in its motion in terms of the forces acting on it - ie. The reaction force disappearing.

5. Show how the trajectory path is different for different initial speeds.

All of this is shown on the GIF on TES.com

Things I thought of after finishing the GIF:

1. Show different starting positions.

2. Show what happens if the particle doesn't have enough energy to get higher than the centre in the constrained and unconstrained cases.

3. Find an example of an initial speed which means the particle completes circles if constrained, but doesn't complete circles when unconstrained.

4. Limitations of the model? 

This year I used the tool to help students when they had questions about constrained and unconstrained cases. That's what they got confused about the most.

I'm thinking about how next year I can use it for a homework before teaching this topic.

If you have any more ideas about how to use this tool are any of the others, please let me know. I'm on Twitter.