Ball attached to vertical rod by two strings rotating at constant angular velocity

[meowers]

A ball of mass m is attached by two strings to a vertical rod. as shown above. The entire system rotates at constant angular velocity about the axis of the rod.
a)Assuming ω is large enough to keep both strings taut, find the force each string exerts on the ball in terms of ω, m, g, R, and .
b)Find the minimum angular velocity, ωmin for which the lower string barely remains taut.

I have absolutely no idea where to start with this problem.

 

[tiny-tim]

hi meowers! welcome to pf!

apply good ol' Newton's second law twice, in the horizontal and vertical directions, to find the relationship between a g T₁ and T₂ …

what do you get? ​

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