Over Thanksgiving, I was driving my family’s car to my friend's house. When I came to a stop light, a huge lifted truck with wheels that are way too big pulled up next to me. This got me thinking about physics! I was wondering how the radius on the wheel affects its angular velocity. If we reach the same constant linear velocity after the light turns green of 35 mph (15.6 m/s) in the same amount of time, how will the angular velocities and acceleration of our wheels differ?
The lifted truck with wheels having a radius around 20 inches (0.503 meters)
My beautiful car with wheels having a radius around 10 inches (0.254 meters)
Let time equal 30 seconds
In conclusion, the angular acceleration for a wheel on my car is much greater than the angular acceleration on a wheel on the truck for the two vehicles to reach the same linear velocity.
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