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s1gma
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Homework Statement
A bicycle is racing around on a horizontal surface in a circle of radius 19 m. The force exerted by the road on the bicycle makes an angle of 23 degrees with the vertical. What is its speed?
Homework Equations
I believe this is a uniform circular motion problem, so I've been trying these equations:
[tex]\Sigma[/tex] F = ma
a = [tex]\frac{v^{2}}{r}[/tex]
Where v is the tangential velocity (what I need to find) and a is the acceleration pointing inward causing it to turn, r is the radius.
The Attempt at a Solution
I thought this problem was a mistake at first because I'm given an angle and a radius, and I'm somehow supposed to derive a speed. I broke down the angle into component vectors where x = 0.39 and y = 0.92. I know that the x component points inward to the center of the circle and should be the radial component for a circular motion problem. I could use that as a then just plug in r and solve for v.
However, I don't know the real magnitude of the force from the earth, so I don't know how to find a. This is the only way to solve it that I can think of. Can someone guide me here?