Centripetal Acceleration of rope and bucket

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a bucket being whirled in a vertical circle, focusing on the forces acting on the bucket at different points in its motion. The subject area includes concepts of centripetal acceleration and tension in a circular motion context.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the forces acting on the bucket at both the lowest and highest points of its circular path. There is an exploration of the conditions under which the rope remains taut and the implications of the tension force being zero at the top of the circle.

Discussion Status

Some participants express agreement with the original poster's calculations for part a) and question the implications of having no tension in the rope at the top of the circle. The discussion is focused on clarifying the conditions for the rope to remain taut.

Contextual Notes

Participants are considering the conditions under which the rope does not go slack, which involves examining the relationship between tension and gravitational forces at the top of the circular path.

physicsnobrain
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Homework Statement


A bucket of mass 2.00 kg is whirled in a vertical circle of radius 1.10 m. At the lowest
point of its motion the tension in the rope supporting the bucket is 25.0 N. (a) Find the
speed of the bucket. (b) How fast must the bucket move at the top of the circle so that
the rope does not go slack?

Homework Equations


Fc=mv^2/r

The Attempt at a Solution



For part a), since it is at the lower point. The forces acting on the bucket are gravity acting downwards, and force of tension acting towards the center. Therefore Fc = Ft-Fg. We do Ft-Fg because force of tension is stronger (because the rope isn't snapping at this point).

We set up our equation to be: mv^2/r = Ft - mg

After rearraging this equation and solving for v I get 1.72 m/s.

For part b) since it is now at the highest point, the forces acting on it are both still tension and gravity, however tension is acting towards the center so both of these forces are acting downwards. For there to be just enough for no slack the force of gravity must be less than the centripetal force.

In this case centripetal force is equal to Ft + Fg.

We set up the equation to be: mv^2/r = Ft + mg

after rearranging this equation and solving for v I get 4.83m/s.
Am I correct, please I need help anyone.
 
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part a) looks ok to me.

physicsnobrain said:
For there to be just enough for no slack.
If there's just enough for no slack, then what is Ft?
 
rcgldr said:
part a) looks ok to me.

If there's just enough for no slack, then what is Ft?

hmmm. 0N right?
 
physicsnobrain said:
hmmm. 0N right?
correct.
 

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