How Do You Calculate Acceleration in a Centrifuge?

[thebigeis]

Nonuniform/Uniform Circular Motion... i think

I keep putting my posts in the wrong forum. Anyway..

I have a few problems left that I'm completely stumped on how to do.

#1) A typical lab centrifuge rotates at 4000rpm. Test tubes have to be placed into a centrifuge very carefully because of the very large accelerations. What is the acceleration at the end of a test tube that is 10cm from the axis of rotation in?

Out of my 6, these trouble me the most. For #1, I made the radius 10cm, the velocity constant, but am unsure what equations I need to plug those in.

 

[member 553083]

Could someone point me in the right direction? #1) The equation you need to use is the centripetal acceleration equation: a=v^2/r, where a is the centripetal acceleration, v is the velocity, and r is the radius of rotation. Plugging in your values, you get a = (4000rpm * 2π rad/rev)^2/10cm = 8,049,152 m/s^2.