Centripetal force of a rotating ride thing

[Magma828]

Just had a question in an exam asking me to find the centripetal force of a capsule on a ride like this:

It gave the mass of a capsule, its velocity and radius etc. Would I have had to multiply by the number of capsules, because it did state the number.

I didn't do this, but someone told me that that's what I should have done. Now I'm confused!

 

[radou]

the centripetal force of a capsule

Why multiply when you're asked to find the force for a single capsule?

 

[Magma828]

That's what I thought, but it's strange that they gave the number of the capsules.

Probably just to confuse us!

 

[radou]

That's what I thought, but it's strange that they gave the number of the capsules.

Probably just to confuse us!

Well, it would be different if you were asked to find the sum of all the centripetal forces acting on the ride.