Question

Professor Brown holds on to the end of the second hand of a clock atop city hall. If the second hand is 2.77 m long, what is the professor

centripetal acceleration?

Answer 1

To determine the centripetal acceleration of Professor Brown holding the end of a 2.77 m long second hand of a clock, use the formula a = ω^2 * r, with the angular velocity ω derived from the clock's 60-second rotation period.

Step-by-step explanation:

The student asks about the centripetal acceleration experienced by Professor Brown if he holds on to the end of the second hand of a clock that is 2.77 m long. To calculate the centripetal acceleration, we can use the relationship a = ω2r, where a is the centripetal acceleration, ω is the angular velocity, and r is the radius of the circular path. A second hand completes a rotation in 60 seconds, which gives us an angular velocity of 2π radians per 60 seconds, or ω = 2π/60 rad/s. Plugging in the values, we get a = (ω2) * r = ((2π/60)2) * 2.77 m. After performing the calculation, we would get the centripetal acceleration in meters per second squared (m/s2).