Forces Acting on Person Standing at Earth's Equator

[forty]

(a) Assume that the Earth is a uniform sphere with a radius r which rotates such that the speed of the ground at the equator is v which is constant.

(i) Draw a diagram showing the forces acting on a person standing on the equator.

There would be the following forces acting on the person:

Gravity (mg)
Normal (-mg)
Friction at the point of contact to the earth
Centripetal force (?)

(ii) Explain why a person in this situation must experience a net force even though their speed is constant.

Does this have to do with the centripetal force? So they need to have a net force towards the center of the earth??



Any help with these would be greatly appreciated.

 

[CompuChip]

Since you are talking about force diagrams, I assume you know about vectors. In (ii) the question says that |\vec v| is constant, but is \vec v constant as well?

 

[forty]

so the magnitude of v is constant but the direction is changing hence you are accelerating and if you are accelerating your are experiencing a net force?

 

[Doc Al]

so the magnitude of v is constant but the direction is changing hence you are accelerating and if you are accelerating your are experiencing a net force?

Absolutely. So redo your analysis of the forces acting on the person.