Calculating Minimum Angular Velocity for Rotor Carnival Ride | Dynamics Problem

[Kudo Shinichi]

HELP!A dynamics problem

Homework Statement

In a carnival ride called the Rotor, people stand against the inside wall of cylindrical chamber. when the chamber rotates with a sufficiently high angular velocity, the floor of the chamber is lowered and the people "stick" to the wall. the coefficient of static friction between a person and the wall is mu(s)=0.5 and the radius of the chamber is r=3.5m.
what is the minimum angular velocity, omega, of the chamber (in revolutions per minute) that will keep the people from sliding down the wall?

The Attempt at a Solution

a=(omega)^2*radius
two unknown variables
therefore, we need to find the acceleration
Frictional force=mu(s)*m*g
mu(s)=0.5 g=9.8
frictional force=0.5*m*9.8
and
frictional force=ma
mu(s)*m*g=ma
a=mu(s)*g
sub the a I got into a=(omega)^2*radius to find omega

however, while i was trying to find the frictional force, there are two unknown variables, which are frictional force and the mass. I think that i can solve this question as soon as I know the mass for the person...can anyone teach me how to find the mass of the person?

Thank you for helping me.

 

[JoAuSc]

You are correct that you need the mass of the person. If you can't find the mass of the person , give your answer in terms of "m" and mention that "m" is the mass of the person.

 

[Kudo Shinichi]

You are correct that you need the mass of the person. If you can't find the mass of the person , give your answer in terms of "m" and mention that "m" is the mass of the person.

What you are saying is that I will not get a numerical answer for this question, instead i will have a variable in my answer, right?
I wish my teacher will not mark this as a wrong answer^^thanks
by the way,so there is no way to find the mass, right?

 

[RTW69]

I don't think you need the mass of rider to solve this problem because it cancels out. This is a statics problem i.e. the rider is not moving. Do a free body diagram on the rider with all the forces defined (hint: I see 4 forces). Sum of the forces in X-direction is 0 and sum of all the forces in Y-direction is 0. Solve for u.

 

[JoAuSc]

I don't think you need the mass of rider to solve this problem because it cancels out. This is a statics problem i.e. the rider is not moving. Do a free body diagram on the rider with all the forces defined (hint: I see 4 forces). Sum of the forces in X-direction is 0 and sum of all the forces in Y-direction is 0. Solve for u.

Yes, I see it now. The mass should cancel out because the gravitational force, the centripetal force, and the force of friction should all depend linearly on mass.