Question

A campus bird spots a member of an opposing football team in an amusement park. The football player is on a ride where he goes around at angular velocity w at distance R from the center. The bird flies in a horizontal circle above him. Will a dropping the bird releases while flying directly above the person's head hit him? Ignore air resistance.

Answer 1

No..

Step-by-step explanation:

As the bird releases the drop there is no internal force which will drive it into circular path but it will fall on tangent of the arc at the point of release because it has a tangential velocity same as bird. Path will be parabola in vertical plane.

As the person is on circular arc constantly moving it will never meet that drop.