Question

A steam governor uses negative feedback to control the speed of a steam engine. Suppose a steam governor

has two balls that are each rotating with a tangential speed of 3.7 m/s. The balls are 0.10 m from the rotation
axis, and the centripetal force on each ball is 670 N. What is the mass of one of the balls?

Answer 1

F = M a Newton's second law

a = v^2 / R = (3.7 m/s)^2 / .10 m = 137 m/s^2

M = F / a = 670 N / 137 m/s^2 = 4.89 kg