Centripetal Acceleration Problem: Finding Angular Speed

In summary, the conversation is about a person seeking help with a physics homework problem involving centripetal acceleration on an amusement park ride. The problem asks for the minimum angular speed, in rpm, for the ride to be safe, and the person has calculated the answer to be 18.20 rpm. However, the online homework site marks it as wrong and gives the correct answer of 23 rpm when using the coefficient of friction of 0.62 instead of 1. The conversation also discusses what would happen if someone with clothing with a lower friction coefficient was on the ride at 18.2 rpm.
  • #1
Nahtee
Hi all, I've been lurking around the forums for a while to get help with homework but I figured I'd finally make an account to get direct feedback.

I'm having problems with this centripetal acceleration problem,

Homework Statement


"In an old-fashioned amusement park ride, passengers stand inside a 5.4-m-diameter hollow steel cylinder with their backs against the wall. The cylinder begins to rotate about a vertical axis. Then the floor on which the passengers are standing suddenly drops away! If all goes well, the passengers will "stick" to the wall and not slide. Clothing has a static coefficient of friction against steel in the range 0.62 to 1.0 and a kinetic coefficient in the range 0.40 to 0.70. A sign next to the entrance says "No children under 30 kg allowed." What is the minimum angular speed, in rpm, for which the ride is safe?"

Homework Equations


F=ma, Ff=µN, ω=v^2/r

The Attempt at a Solution


So, I started out drawing a FBD with Ff up, Fg down, and Fn towards the center of the circle. Applying N2L gave me 0=µN-mg=µω^2r-g, so ω=sqrt(g/rµ). From this equation its clear that the angular velocity would be lowest when µ=1, since its in the denominator. So after I plugged in the values for g and r I got sqrt(9.81/2.7)= 1.906rad/s. Then dividing that by 2pi to go from radians to revolutions gave me 0.3033rps, x60 to convert to minutes = 18.20rpm.
My online homework site marked this as wrong and says the answer is 23rpm, but even after double checking my work and trying to work backwards from the 23rpm I can't figure out where I went wrong. Any thoughts?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
  • #2
What would happen if someone was wearing clothing with the friction coefficient less than 1 and the ride was rotating at 18.2 rpm?
 
  • #3
PhanthomJay said:
What would happen if someone was wearing clothing with the friction coefficient less than 1 and the ride was rotating at 18.2 rpm?

Ah I see, using the 0.62 coefficient gives me the correct answer. If someone had clothing with the coeff of friction less than 1 and the ride was rotating at 18.2rpm there wouldn't be enough centripetal acceleration to hold them to the wall, so they would fall off. Thanks for you're help!
 

1. What is centripetal acceleration?

Centripetal acceleration is the acceleration experienced by an object moving along a circular path. It is directed towards the center of the circle and its magnitude is given by the formula a = v^2/r, where v is the linear speed of the object and r is the radius of the circle.

2. What is angular speed?

Angular speed is the rate at which an object rotates about a fixed axis. It is measured in radians per second (rad/s) and is given by the formula ω = θ/t, where θ is the angular displacement and t is the time taken to complete one rotation.

3. How do you find the angular speed from centripetal acceleration?

To find the angular speed from centripetal acceleration, you can use the formula ω = v/r, where v is the linear speed and r is the radius of the circular path. Alternatively, you can rearrange the formula for centripetal acceleration to get ω = √(a*r), where a is the centripetal acceleration.

4. What is the difference between tangential speed and angular speed?

Tangential speed is the linear speed of an object moving along a circular path, while angular speed is the rate at which the object rotates about a fixed axis. Tangential speed is measured in units of distance per time (e.g. m/s), while angular speed is measured in radians per second (rad/s).

5. How does centripetal acceleration affect the motion of an object?

Centripetal acceleration is responsible for the change in direction of an object moving along a circular path. It always acts towards the center of the circle and keeps the object from flying off the path. The magnitude of centripetal acceleration depends on the object's speed and the radius of the circular path, and it increases as either of these values increases.

Similar threads

  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
2
Views
2K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
1
Views
1K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
4
Views
2K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
3
Views
2K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
8
Views
2K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
20
Views
2K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
7
Views
7K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
4
Views
1K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
3
Views
1K
  • Introductory Physics Homework Help
Replies
7
Views
5K
Back
Top