Question

The cars on an amusement park ride travel at a constant velocity of 4 m/s on a circular track that has a radius of 4 m what is the magnitude of each cars centripetal acceleration? Part B if each car in the previous problem has a mass of 130 kg what is the net centripical force acting on each car?

Answer 1

ANSWER:

a) 4 m/s^2

b) 520 N

STEP-BY-STEP EXPLANATION:

The centripetal acceleration can be calculated as follows:

$\begin{gathered} a_c=\frac{v^2}{r} \\ \text{ replacing} \\ a_c=\frac{4^2}{4}=\frac{16}{4}=4m/s^2 \end{gathered}$

And we calculate the centripetal force like this:

$\begin{gathered} F_c=m\cdot a_c \\ \text{ Replacing} \\ F_c=130\cdot4 \\ F_c=520\text{ N} \end{gathered}$