Angular and linear acceleration in a rigid rolling body: students’ misconceptions

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to highlight students’ misconceptions of the kinematics ofrolling movement and to show mechanisms that can help the student to overcomethem. In particular, it focuses on the relationship between the angular and linearacceleration of a rigid body that moves without slipping. Frequently, physics books showparticular examples of rolling movement instead of treating the underlying physics.Consequently, students can develop misunderstandings that lead to errors when solvingmore general cases. In this paper, I suggest how the physics teacher can dealwith these problems. First, I discuss how to best teach the kinematics of theplane movement in a rigid body. Second, I propose several examples that canpoint out the misconceptions to the students and help them to restructure theirknowledge.