AP Physics 1 Circular Motion Worksheet

I made this worksheet as a set of practice problems for my students studying circular motion.

It includes these types of practice problems:

• linear vs rotational speed
• centripetal acceleration
• finding linear speed from period and vice versa
• centripetal force
• friction for cars making turns
• apparent weight at the top and bottom of a circular path
• situations where the centripetal force is supplied by tension, gravity, the normal force, or friction

This worksheet includes 40 practice problems, plus an answer key. I have them grouped by type, so you can either have your students do one section at a time, or a few problems from each section. (I always aim to have more practice available than they need.)

I also included a section of conceptual questions, which I find help give students a sense of what circular motion actually feels like.

I also included the classic trick questions, like "if you tie a weight to a string and swing it around, but suddenly the string breaks, what path will the weight take?"