34.8k views
1 vote
Suppose a wheel is initially rotating at 10.0 rad/s while undergoing constant angular acceleration reaching a speed of 30.0 rad/s after 20.0 seconds have elapsed. How long after the initial time has the wheel undergone half of the angular displacement that it will have gone through during the entire 20.0 second interval?

a. 10.0 s
b. 12.4 s
c. 14.2 s
d. 15.0 s

The answer is B, according to the textbook but I don't know why

User Andy Shinn
by
6.5k points

1 Answer

1 vote

To solve this problem, you can use the equations of motion for rotational motion under constant acceleration:

ωf = ωi + αt --(1)

θ = ωit + 0.5αt^2 --(2)

where ωi is the initial angular velocity, ωf is the final angular velocity, α is the angular acceleration, t is the time elapsed, and θ is the angular displacement.

Using equation (1), we can find the angular acceleration of the wheel:

α = (ωf - ωi)/t

= (30.0 rad/s - 10.0 rad/s)/20.0 s

= 1.0 rad/s^2

Using equation (2), we can find the total angular displacement of the wheel during the 20.0 seconds:

θ = ωit + 0.5αt^2

= 10.0 rad/s × 20.0 s + 0.5 × 1.0 rad/s^2 × (20.0 s)^2

= 400.0 rad

To find the time at which the wheel has undergone half of this angular displacement, we can use equation (2) again:

θ/2 = ωit + 0.5αt^2

Rearranging and solving for t, we get:

t = [(-ωi) ± sqrt(ωi^2 + 2αθ)]/α

Since we are looking for a positive time, we take the positive root:

t = [(-10.0 rad/s) ± sqrt((10.0 rad/s)^2 + 2 × 1.0 rad/s^2 × 400.0 rad)]/1.0 rad/s^2

≈ 12.4 s

Therefore, the answer is B, 12.4 s.

User Russellsayshi
by
8.5k points