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ERIC Number: EJ1331595
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Mar
Pages: 4
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Understanding Aristotle's Wheel Paradox from the Viewpoint of Motion Decomposition
Xu, Huiling; Yan, Xun-Wang; Wang, Yanyun
Physics Teacher, v60 n3 p212-215 Mar 2022
Aristotle's wheel paradox is a fascinating example of a classical puzzle that can pique a student's interest. The existing explanations in the literature are limited to discussions of the wheel trajectory; in this paper, we study the paradox from the viewpoint of motion decomposition, an approach we consider more intuitive. The motion of the point at the wheel edge can be resolved into a uniform rectilinear motion and a uniform circular motion. By analyzing the velocity of the point on the edge of the small wheel, we conclude that when the large wheel is rolling at a constant speed without slipping, the small wheel does actually both roll and slide.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://aapt.scitation.org/journal/pte
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A