How Does a Ferris Wheel Ride Reveal Physics Principles?

[clarineterr]

Homework Statement

A woman rides on a Ferris wheel of radius 16m that maintains the same speed throughout its motion. To better understand physics, she takes along a digital bathroom scale (with memory) and sits on it. When she gets off the ride, she uploads the scale readings to a computer and creates a graph of scale reading versus time. Note that the graph has a minimum value of 510 N and a maximum value of 666N. What is the woman's mass?

Homework Equations

a_{c} = \frac{mv^{2}}{r}

and Newtons 2nd law

The Attempt at a Solution

So at the top we have gravity acting on her and the normal force of her seat acting on her which we will call Nt.

so \frac{mv^{2}}{r} = mg - Nt

Then at the bottom, where Nb is the normal force of her seat acting on her

\frac{mv^{2}}{r} = Nb - mg

Then solving these equations I got 2mg = Nt + Nb

I really don't know if I am right about this...can someone please help me?

 

[tiny-tim]

Hi clarineterr!

So at the top we have gravity acting on her and the normal force of her seat acting on her which we will call Nt.

so \frac{mv^{2}}{r} = mg - Nt

Then at the bottom, where Nb is the normal force of her seat acting on her

\frac{mv^{2}}{r} = Nb - mg

Then solving these equations I got 2mg = Nt + Nb

I really don't know if I am right about this...can someone please help me?

Looks good to me!