Question

Suppose a piece of food is on the edge of a rotating microwave oven plate. Does it experience nonzero tangential acceleration, centripetal acceleration, or both when: the plate starts to spin faster?

a) Both
b) Tangential
c) None
d) Tangential

Answer 1

When the microwave oven plate starts to spin faster, the food on the edge experiences both nonzero tangential acceleration and centripetal acceleration.

Step-by-step explanation:

When the microwave oven plate starts to spin faster, the food on the edge experiences both nonzero tangential acceleration and centripetal acceleration.

Tangential acceleration is the acceleration along the edge of the plate, which changes the magnitude of the velocity. Centripetal acceleration is the acceleration towards the center of the circular path. As the plate spins faster, both types of acceleration increase.