What is the difference between radial acceleration and tangential acceleration?

Question

Thanks for the help

Answer 1

radial is along the radius, tangential is along the tangent.

d2r/dt^2 versus r d2theta/dt^2

Answer 2

Angular motion = the direction of motion changes at every point such that it forms a circular path around a central point. Tangential motion = the direction of motion is linear in a straight line and touches one point on the curve of the circle. centripetal accelerattion = the force acting towards the center of such a circle, and it is exactly equal to the centrifugal force which acts along the same straight line, but away from the center of that circle. centripetal velocity as such is not seen. You may say linear motion towards the center of the circle, but that is again motion in a straight line. For the formulas, see above answers. Omega = Pi Radians is an important formula to know.

Answer 3

Radial acceleration - you are accelerating toward or away from the center of your coordinate sywtem
Tangential acceleration - you are accelerating perpendicular to the radial direction.

Note: you must be using polar coordinates