Question

In an old-fashioned amusement park ride, passengers ____________.

A) Experience weightlessness
B) Rotate around a central axis
C) Move in a straight line
D) Encounter virtual reality

Answer 1

In an old-fashioned amusement park ride, passengers rotate around a central axis by swinging back and forth like a rigid pendulum.

Step-by-step explanation:

In an old-fashioned amusement park ride, passengers rotate around a central axis.

For example, in a ride shaped like a Viking ship, the passengers hang from a large pivot and are rotated back and forth like a rigid pendulum. They experience rotational motion as the ship swings from side to side.

This type of motion is caused by the centripetal force, which is the force that acts towards the center of the circular path. In this case, the centripetal force is provided by the pivot and the ride's mechanism.