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A race car travels with a constant tangential speed of 75.0m/s around a circular track of radius 625m. Find:

A- The magnitude of the car's total acceleration

1 Answer

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Final answer:

The magnitude of the car's total acceleration, which is the centripetal acceleration, is calculated to be 9.0 m/s², using the formula a_c = v² / r.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question pertains to finding the magnitude of the car's total acceleration as it travels with a constant tangential speed of 75.0 m/s around a circular track of radius 625 m. The only acceleration the car would experience in such a case is centripetal acceleration, which keeps the car moving in a circular path.

To calculate the centripetal acceleration (ac), we use the formula:

ac = v2 / r

where v is the tangential speed and r is the radius of the circular path.

Substituting the values given, we get:

ac = (75.0 m/s)2 / 625 m = 9.0 m/s2

The magnitude of the car's total acceleration, which is the same as its centripetal acceleration in this case, is 9.0 m/s2.

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