Question

A race car traveling at a consistent speed of 50 m s drives around a circular track that is 500 m in diameter what is the magnitude of the radial acceleration of the car

Answer 1

`10 m/s^2`

Step-by-step explanation:

The radial acceleration (also called centripetal acceleration) of an object in circular motion is given by

`a=(v^2)/(r)`

where

v is the speed of the object

r is the radius of the circular path

For the car in this problem,

v = 50 m/s

we know that the diameter of the track is d = 500 m, so the radius is

`r=(d)/(2)=250 m`

And so, the radial acceleration is

`a=(50^2)/(250)=10 m/s^2`