Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Radius of curvature and center of curvature. In differential geometry, the radius of curvature, R, is the reciprocal of the curvature. For a curve, it equals the radius of the circular arc which best approximates the curve at that point. For surfaces, the radius of curvature is the radius of a circle that best fits a normal section or ...
The curvature is the reciprocal of radius of curvature. That is, the curvature is =, where R is the radius of curvature [5] (the whole circle has this curvature, it can be read as turn 2π over the length 2π R). This definition is difficult to manipulate and to express in formulas.
The center and radius of the osculating circle at a given point are called center of curvature and radius of curvature of the curve at that point. A geometric construction was described by Isaac Newton in his Principia:
Let P be a point on the neutral surface of the beam at a distance from the origin of the (,) coordinate system. The slope of the beam is approximately equal to the angle made by the neutral surface with the x {\displaystyle x} -axis for the small angles encountered in beam theory.
E 0 = E(0, 0), the electric field amplitude at the origin (r = 0, z = 0), w(z) is the radius at which the field amplitudes fall to 1/e of their axial values (i.e., where the intensity values fall to 1/e 2 of their axial values), at the plane z along the beam, w 0 = w(0) is the waist radius, R(z) is the radius of curvature of the beam's ...
Animation depicting evolution of a Cornu spiral with the tangential circle with the same radius of curvature as at its tip, also known as an osculating circle.. To travel along a circular path, an object needs to be subject to a centripetal acceleration (for example: the Moon circles around the Earth because of gravity; a car turns its front wheels inward to generate a centripetal force).
A curve may have nonzero curvature and zero torsion. For example, the circle of radius R given by r(t) = (R cos t, R sin t, 0) in the z = 0 plane has zero torsion and curvature equal to 1/R. The converse, however, is false. That is, a regular curve with nonzero torsion must have nonzero curvature.
The sagitta also has uses in physics where it is used, along with chord length, to calculate the radius of curvature of an accelerated particle. This is used especially in bubble chamber experiments where it is used to determine the momenta of decay particles. Likewise historically the sagitta is also utilised as a parameter in the calculation ...