What this topic covers

Motion in a circle is topic 12 of the Cambridge 9702 syllabus (2025–2027) and the first topic of the A Level course, covering the kinematics of uniform circular motion and centripetal acceleration. It is A Level content, examined in Paper 4 (A Level Structured Questions), which carries 38.5% of the A Level. Students commonly struggle with expressing angular displacement in radians, using ω = 2π/T and v = rω fluently, and, above all, recognising that centripetal force is not an additional force but the resultant force directed towards the centre. Questions on vehicles on banked or curved tracks, objects on strings and vertical circles test whether the forces are correctly identified. The skills developed here underpin gravitational fields and oscillations later in the course.

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Questions in this topic

• 9702/41/O/N/24 Q1 — Gravitational fields and circular motion · 12 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/24 Q1 — circular motion and electromagnetic induction · 13 marks
• 9702/43/O/N/24 Q1 — Gravitational fields and circular orbits · 12 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/24 Q1 — circular motion and angular speed · 9 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/23 Q1 — circular motion and angular speed · 10 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/23 Q2 — circular motion and forces · 12 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/23 Q2 — circular motion and forces · 12 marks
• 9702/41/O/N/22 Q1 — gravitational fields and orbits · 9 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/22 Q1 — gravitational field and centripetal acceleration · 10 marks
• 9702/43/O/N/22 Q1 — gravitational fields and orbits · 9 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/22 Q2 — electric and magnetic fields · 8 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/22 Q2 — Coulomb's law and positronium · 13 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/22 Q2 — electric and magnetic fields · 8 marks
• 9702/42/F/M/22 Q1 — gravitational fields and circular motion · 10 marks
• 9702/41/O/N/21 Q1 — uniform circular motion · 7 marks
• 9702/42/O/N/21 Q1 — centripetal acceleration · 8 marks
• 9702/43/O/N/21 Q1 — uniform circular motion · 7 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/21 Q1 — gravitational field strength · 6 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/21 Q8 — Magnetic flux density and specific charge · 10 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/20 Q1 — gravitational force and binary star system · 9 marks
• 9702/43/M/J/20 Q1 — gravitational force and binary star system · 9 marks
• 9702/41/O/N/19 Q1 — Newton's law of gravitation and satellite orbits · 8 marks
• 9702/43/O/N/19 Q1 — Newton's law of gravitation and satellite orbits · 8 marks
• 9702/42/M/J/19 Q8 — motion of electron in magnetic field · 6 marks
• 9702/42/F/M/19 Q1 — gravitational potential and energy · 12 marks
• 9702/41/M/J/18 Q1 — Newton's law of gravitation · 9 marks

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