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: (a) The plate starts to spin

Answer 1

the only acceleration it has is radial (centripetal)

Step-by-step explanation:

The microwaves plate rotates at a constant speed after a very short period of acceleration.

Therefore we can apply Newton's second law

F = m a

where the acceleration is centripetal

a = v2 / r = w2 r

therefore as it rotates constant speed it cannot have a tangential acceleration since it changes the modulus of the speed.

Consequently the only acceleration it has is radial (centripetal)