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

a) 4 m/s^2

b) 520 N

Explanation:

The centripetal acceleration can be calculated as follows:

`\begin{gathered} a_c=(v^2)/(r) \\ \text{ replacing} \\ a_c=(4^2)/(4)=(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}`