Final answer:
The angular acceleration of the bicycle wheel is 1.70 rad/s², which is option a). This value is a constant and does not depend on the radius of the wheel.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student asked what the angular acceleration of a bicycle wheel is if it starts at rest and accelerates at a constant rate of 1.70 rad/s². The answer is simply given in the question. The angular acceleration is 'a) 1.70 rad/s²' because angular acceleration is a measure of how quickly the angular velocity of an object changes with time, and since the bicyclist produces a constant angular acceleration, it remains at 1.70 rad/s². This is a concept from physics known as rotational motion, where angular acceleration is denoted by the Greek letter alpha (α) and is defined as the rate of change of angular velocity. The radius of the wheel does not affect the angular acceleration, so the given wheel radius of 34.5 cm is not directly relevant to the answer of the student's question.