The discussion revolves around the concept of external forces and their relationship to speed and velocity, particularly in scenarios where an object moves at constant speed while experiencing a net external force.
Participants have engaged in clarifying the definitions of speed and velocity, and have provided examples of motion that maintains constant speed but not constant velocity. The discussion is exploring the implications of these concepts on external forces acting on objects.
There is an ongoing examination of the net external forces acting on objects in motion, particularly in relation to centripetal force and acceleration, with some participants questioning the complexity of these concepts in non-circular paths.
Good. Note the key word velocity. How does that differ from speed?crysland said:
Exactly! So see if you can try to answer the question now.crysland said:
How about a car following any curved path while moving at constant speed? A section of road could be similar to a sine wave, ellipse, spiral, parabola, ..., and a car would be able to follow that path while moving at constant speed.crysland said:
Your answer is definitely correct!crysland said:
Do you remember the expression for centripetal acceleration?crysland said:
That would be speed^2 / (radius of curvature), which gets complicated for paths other than a circle.arildno said:
The simple answer is that centripetal force = centripetal acceleration x mass of the car.crysland said: