Question

A racing car on a flat track travels at 45.0 m/s around a curve with a 55.0 m radius. Find the car’s centripetal acceleration?

Answer 1

Given,

The velocity of the car, v=45.0 m/s

The radius of the circular path, r=55.0 m

The centripetal force is the force directed towards the center that is acting on an object in a circular motion. This is the force that keeps the object in its circular path.

The centripetal acceleration is given by,

$a=\frac{v^2}{r}$

On substituting the known values,

$\begin{gathered} a=\frac{45.0^2}{55.0} \\ =36.82\text{ m/s}^2 \end{gathered}$

Thus, the centripetal acceleration of the car is 36.82 m/s².