Circular Motion Workbook | Centripetal Acceleration & Force, Physics Notes

This Circular Motion Workbook is going to save you and your students so much time in your Physics or Physical Science classes! This EDITABLE, 28-page workbook covers inertial frames of reference, non-inertial frames of reference, apparent weight, centripetal acceleration, centripetal force, applications of centripetal force (human centrifuge, artificial gravity, circular loops vs. clothoid loops for roller coasters, banked curves with and without friction).

This workbook has been beautifully formatted in Microsoft Word, with all clear, crisp, custom graphics. Full solutions are included.

NEW: This workbook now has an accompanying EDITABLE PowerPoint presentation!

There is a 115-slide presentation that covers all lessons for the entire workbook (homework slides not included in slides, but full homework solutions are included in the PDF). The full presentation has also been divided by lesson into 5 shorter PowerPoint files that are quicker to load and easier to share with students during distance learning.

The presentations come in 3 formats:

• editable PowerPoint
• PDF
• "flattened" PowerPoint which can be uploaded to Google Slides with no change in formatting (OneDrive link included since these are large files)

Check out the video preview above to see the PowerPoint presentation.

This resource is part of my Growing Physics Bundle. If you like this style of organized note-taking I have other workbooks for Physics units:

1-Dimensional Kinematics workbook

2-Dimensional Kinematics workbook

Forces & Newton's Laws workbook

Energy workbook

Circular Motion workbook

Gravitational Fields workbook

Momentum & Collisions workbook

Waves & Sound workbook

Optics workbook

Static Electricity workbook

Current Electricity workbook

Electric Fields workbook

Nuclear Energy Unit

Read the topics carefully to see if this workbook is right for you. The PREVIEW shows the watermarked solutions so you can examine if this workbook is right for you.

Students will learn about:

• inertial frames of reference

• non-inertial frames of reference

• apparent weight

• centripetal acceleration

• centripetal force

• applications of centripetal force (human centrifuge, artificial gravity, circular loops vs. clothoid loops for roller coasters, banked curves with and without friction).

The Circular Motion Workbook also includes:

• a title page

• an equation page

• a vocabulary page for students to update with key terms throughout the unit

• a preconception page, that asks probing questions at the beginning of the unit and it revisited at the end of the unit.

The zipped folder includes:

• The 28-page Energy workbook in PDF format and editable Microsoft Word format.

• Complete, handwritten solutions - including problem solving tips - as a PDF file (28 pages).

• 115 PowerPoint slides that cover the lessons including examples. The 115-slide has also been divided into 5 shorter PowerPoints and PDF files (easier to share with students during virtual learning on your password protected LMS).

This workbook is appropriate for AP Physics 1, SPH4U and other upper-level Physics courses.

How I use the workbooks

I have been using these workbooks with my Physics students for years with great success. Students might be a little intimidated by the thickness of the workbooks at first, but they are VERY grateful when they see that these are mostly fill-in-the-blanks style with room for practice questions. I print them all out at the beginning of the unit and work through them day-by-day on the document camera. I try to get through one lesson per day. However, there are some longer lessons (like latent heat) that are better split in two or three. I don’t like to instruct all class: I like to take up choice homework questions, infuse experiments into the day, have students work together and review previous concepts. I don’t mark the workbooks, but I do check them for completion. I assign homework from the workbook (which is usually done in class) and some additional homework problems from the textbook.

Let me address some of your questions…

Am I going to be photocopying every day?

Nope! I print off the ENTIRE workbook and give it to the students at the beginning of the unit. You can choose to bind it, staple it, or just hole-punch it for the students’ binders. I find most students like to keep the pages together. Grab a coffee, put your feet up and enjoy the sweet whirl of the photocopier.

Do you hate trees?

I feel very strongly that Physics calculations cannot and should not be done on the computer. By having the workbook printed you are saving your students lots of time and frustration trying to format equations on the computer. When one of your students solves the problem to sustainable energy via nuclear fusion we’ll both agree that this was worth the paper.

We use a different notation! What am I to do?

This workbook is editable in Microsoft Word. Yup. That’s how much I love you! If you or your textbook use a different notation, just edit it using the equation editor. The only things that are not editable are the graphics.

What about our textbooks?

I still use my textbooks for practice problems. Though there are plenty of practice problems in here, you may want to cycle some textbook problems in too. I like to print off one page at the beginning of the unit that has all the homework problems listed by section. By front-loading all the printing and choosing of the homework problems I save a lot of time throughout the unit.

I don’t teach everything that’s included (or I teach it in a different order), so…?

No problem – either delete those pages from the editable file or select only the pages you want while printing. No topics start mid-way through a page so it’s easy to remove something depending on the level of your students. If you teach it in a different order it’s a quick fix on the Print screen. Just type the page numbers in the order you want them, e.g. 1-10, 15-17, 11-14, 18-28

I need more Physics resources!

You should check out my Physics Growing Bundle. It’s my priority to add to this bundle, and it’s cost increases with each new resource I upload.

Are there labs in here?

No. No labs are included - consider these your students’ notes for the unit. Most of the labs we do are inquiry-based so there isn’t much need for handouts. My Scientific Method: A Scientific Inquiry Unit would be helpful in this scenario.

I’m a new Physics teacher, will this help me?

Absolutely, yes! I wish I had this when I started teaching Physics over 10 years ago! This will save you a ton of time that you can use to grade tests, set-up labs and just keep your head above water.

If you have any additional questions, feel free to Ask a Question here on TpT, or email me: mrs.brosseau@gmail.com