Is the Motion of a Car Translational or Rotational?

[Beth]

When a car moves on the road, it undergoes translational motion. The steering wheel of the car exhibits translational motion, while the wheels undergo rotational motion. When the hands are not moving the steering wheel, the steering wheel moves translationally with the car. When the hands are moving the steering wheel, it undergoes both translational and rotational motion. Therefore, when a car is driving straight on a highway, the steering wheel moves translationally. Translational Motion: It refers to the movement of all points of a figure in the same plane along a straight line by the same distance. Such motion is called translational motion of the figure. Translation does not change the shape or size of the figure. After translation, corresponding line segments are equal, corresponding angles are equal, and the line segments connecting corresponding points are equal. It is an isometric isomorphism and a type of affine transformation in affine space. It can be considered as adding the same vector to every point or moving the center of the coordinate system. Rotational Motion: An object moves in a circular path around a point or an axis. For example, the Earth rotates around its own axis while also revolving around the Sun.