Max Speed of Cart: Determine Without Losing Contact

[Pearce_09]

max speed of cart...

A persone rides in a cart moving at a speed v at the top of a hill that is in the shape of an arc of a circle with radius r.
determine the maximum speed that the cart may travel at the top of the hill without losing contact with the surface.

How do i know that the cart leaves the surface at values of v.
what i mean, i don't know the steps or process on solving this. I am trying to think about this logically and I am getting no where..

 

[hotvette]

Some problems can be solved just by looking at them and using some logic. This isn't one of them. You need to create your free body diagram, choose a coordinate system (cylindrical would seem appropriate), write the equations of motion, and go from there.

You'd be surprised how many physics problems can be solved by just plug-n-chug write the equations of motion and see what you get.