ABSTRACT
According to Newton's Second Law, forces are proportional to accelerations. Thus, if one knows the accelerations of every point on the linkage, they can predict the forces that the linkage must withstand. This can be very important in cases where the linkage must move at high speed, for example, in an automobile engine. Centripetal acceleration is a byproduct of rotation–in order to rotate, a point must accelerate towards the center of rotation. If the link does not rotate, then the angular velocity and centripetal acceleration are both zero. The tangential acceleration points in a direction normal to the unit vector e and the centripetal acceleration points in the direction opposite the unit vector e. The study of position, velocity, and acceleration provides a kinematic analysis of each linkage. The tangential and centripetal acceleration are the same as for the rigid rotating link. The acceleration of slip gives the acceleration of the slider relative to the slot.
