- #1
cacofolius
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Homework Statement
A wheel of radius R rolls along the ground with velocity V.
A pebble is carefully released on top of the wheel so that it is instantaneously at rest on the wheel.
Show that the pebble will immediately fly off the wheel if V> sqrt(Rg)
The Attempt at a Solution
Hi, I know this problem's been asked before, but since they're old posts, and didn't quite understood the clues given there, I decided to ask one more time.
I understand that if the centripetal acceleration equals or is less than gravity, then the pebble will not immediately fly off, but in this case the tangential velocity at the top will be 2v (taken from the floor), and thus the distance will be 2R. Therefore
(2v)^2/(2R)=g and V=sqrt(Rg/2)
I feel I'm missing something, any hints will be appreciated