Angular frequency

Angular frequency
In physics, angular frequency (symbol ω), also called angular speed and angular rate, is a scalar measure of the angle rate (the angle per unit time) or the temporal rate of change of the phase argument of a sinusoidal waveform or sine function (for example, in oscillations and waves).
Angular frequency (or angular speed) is the magnitude of the pseudovector quantity angular velocity.
Angular frequency can be obtained multiplying rotational frequency, ν (or ordinary frequency, f) by a full turn (2 radians): ω2radν.
It can also be formulated as ωdθ/dt, the instantaneous rate of change of the angular displacement, θ, with respect to time, t.
Units
In SI units, angular frequency is normally presented in radians per second, even when it does not express a rotational value. The unit hertz (Hz) is dimensionally equivalent, but by convention it is only used for frequency f, never for angular frequency ω. This convention is used to help avoid the confusion that arises when dealing with quantities such as frequency and angular quantities because the units of measure (such as cycle or radian) are considered to be one and hence may be omitted when expressing quantities in SI units.
In digital signal processing, the frequency may be normalized by the sampling rate, yielding the normalized frequency.
Examples
Circular motion
In a rotating or orbiting object, there is a relation between distance from the axis tangential speed and the angular frequency of the rotation. During one period a body in circular motion travels a distance . This distance is also equal to the circumference of the path traced out by the body, . Setting these two quantities equal, and recalling the link between period and angular frequency we obtain:
Oscillations of a spring
An object attached to a spring can oscillate. If the spring is assumed to be ideal and massless with no damping, then the motion is simple and harmonic with an angular frequency given by
where
k is the spring constant,
m is the mass of the object.
ω is referred to as the natural angular frequency (sometimes be denoted as ω0).
As the object oscillates, its acceleration can be calculated by
where x is displacement from an equilibrium position.
Using standard frequency f, this equation would be
LC circuits
The resonant angular frequency in a series LC circuit equals the square root of the reciprocal of the product of the capacitance (C, with SI unit farad) and the inductance of the circuit (L, with SI unit henry):
Adding series resistance (for example, due to the resistance of the wire in a coil) does not change the resonant frequency of the series LC circuit. For a parallel tuned circuit, the above equation is often a useful approximation, but the resonant frequency does depend on the losses of parallel elements.
Terminology
Although angular frequency is often loosely referred to as frequency, it differs from frequency by a factor of 2, which potentially leads confusion when the distinction is not clear.
See also
Cycle per second
Radian per second
Degree (angle)
Mean motion
Orders of magnitude (angular velocity)
Rotational frequency
Simple harmonic motion
References and notes
Related Reading:
Angle
Kinematic properties
Frequency
Quotients
ca:Freqüència angular
fr:Vitesse angulaire
he:תדירות זוויתית