Forces and centripital acceleration

[benji]

A "swing" ride at a carnival consists of chairs that are swung in a circle by 12.0-m cables attached to a vertical pole; the pole and the cable make an angle of 65.0 degrees above the horizontal. Suppose the total mass of a chair and its occupant is 220 kg. (a) Determine the tension in the cable attached to the chair. (b) Find the speed of the chair.

I can't figure it out! :cry:

[Vector Sum]

THis is a great problem, but maybe not for the students!

Centripetal force must be provided by some other recognizable force. In this case, it is provided by the horizontal componant of the tension.

The vertical componant of the tension has to balance the only other force on the chair (what could it be?).

You have the angle of the cable, and you can calculate the weight of the chair. Can you take it from there?