The Angular frequency reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Jul-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Angular frequency

In physics (specifically mechanics and electrical engineering), angular frequency ω (also called angular speed) is a scalar measure of rotation rate. Angular frequency is the magnitude of the vector quantity angular velocity.

In SI units, angular frequency is measured in radians per second, with dimensions T⁻¹ since radians are dimensionless.

One revolution is equal to 2π radians, hence

where T is the period (measured in seconds) and f is the frequency (measured in hertz).

Angular frequency is therefore a simple multiple of ordinary frequency. However, using angular frequency is often preferable in many applications, as it avoids the excessive appearance of π. In fact, it is used in many fields of physics involving periodic phenomena, such as quantum mechanics and electrodynamics.

For example:

Using 'ordinary' frequency, this equation would be:

Note also that

and therefore that

Where T is the period and v is the tangential velocity of a point about the axis of rotation.

See also

• Frequency
• Angular velocity
• Radian

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