The discussion revolves around a car rounding a level curve with a radius of 100 meters while maintaining a constant speed of 30 m/s. Participants are exploring the concept of acceleration in circular motion, particularly how it relates to speed and velocity.
Some participants have clarified their understanding of the distinction between speed and velocity, noting that while speed remains constant, velocity changes due to the direction of motion. Guidance has been offered regarding the need to review related concepts, although there is no explicit consensus on the approach to solving the problem.
Participants mention that the topic has not been covered in class, leading to some uncertainty about the principles involved in circular motion and acceleration.
What have you learned about cars going around curves? Do they accelerate?Austin Gibson said:1. A car rounds a level curve of radius 100 meters at a constant speed of 30 m/s.
What is the magnitude of the acceleration of the car?
Homework Equations
C = 2piR[/B]The Attempt at a Solution
I calculated the radius as 628m. Besides that, I'm ignorant of the procedure to solve this.[/B]
The speed is constant but not the velocity. Velocity has direction which in this case is changing. Speed has no direction. The speedometer in a car indicates the speed but it does not indicate in which direction the car is moving; that's why it's called a "speedometer".Austin Gibson said:I intended to type "circumference" instead of "radius." This is the first time I encountered this type of question. My initial estimation was the acceleration would be zero if the velocity is constant.
Since you didn't review this in class, you should review it on the web. Just do a web search for the title of this thread and you will see a wealth of useful information out there, videos, tutorials, worked out examples, etc. Happy hunting.Austin Gibson said:Yes, I understand the distinction now because acceleration is the change in velocity rather than speed. Unfortunately, we never reviewed this subject in class. Gravity is vertically holding the car to the earth. That seems irrelevant if it's horizontally turning a corner.