Question

A 600kg roller coaster car is at the top of a loop (it is upside down) that has a radius of 6m. If the normal force on the roller coaster car is -12,000N, how fast is the car moving?

____ m/s (round to the nearest tenth)

Answer 1

Answer: 77.5 m/s

Explanation: We can use the following equation to calculate the velocity of the roller coaster car:

velocity = sqrt( (normal force + weight) * radius / mass)

where weight is the gravitational force acting on the car (mass * g)

Substituting the given values:

velocity = sqrt( (-12,000 N + (600 kg * 9.8 m/s^2)) * 6 m / 600 kg) = sqrt( -12,000 N + 5,880 N) * 6 m/s = sqrt( -6,120 N) * 6 m/s = 77.5 m/s (round to the nearest tenth)

The negative sign on the normal force indicates that it is acting in the opposite direction of the gravitational force. This can happen when the roller coaster car is upside down, which is the case in this problem