Question

A small ball is attached to one end of a rigid rod with negligible mass. The ball and the rod revolve in a horizontal circle with the other end of the rod at the center. The path of the ball has a constant linear speed. The force exerted by the rod is 0.5 N. The centripetal acceleration is 0.5 m/s2 . What is the mass of the ball, in kg?

Answer 1

mass of the ball will be 1 kg

Step-by-step explanation:

We have given force F = 0.5 N

This force must be equal to the centripetal force for the ball to revolve in the circle

So
`F=F_C=0.5N`

Centripetal acceleration is given as
`a_c=0.5m/sec^2`

We have to calculate the mass of the ball

We know that force is given by

`F_C=ma_c`

So
`0.5=m* 0.5`

m = 1 kg

So mass of the ball will be 1 kg