What is the acceleration and sliding time of a car on a rotating platform?

Click For Summary

Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a car moving on a rotating platform with constant angular speed. The problem involves determining the acceleration of the car using polar coordinates and the time it takes for the car to start sliding due to friction. Participants are exploring the dynamics of motion on a rotating surface, including the effects of centripetal and tangential accelerations.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the need to find the car's acceleration and the conditions under which it begins to slide. There are attempts to express the forces acting on the car and the equations governing its motion in polar coordinates. Questions arise regarding the nature of the acceleration and the role of friction.

Discussion Status

Several participants are actively engaging with the problem, offering insights into the forces at play and the equations needed to describe the motion. There is a recognition of the complexity of the problem, with some participants questioning assumptions about the platform's rotation and the nature of the acceleration involved.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the importance of the coefficient of friction and the weight of the car in determining the sliding conditions. There is an acknowledgment that if certain conditions are not met, the car may slide from the start. The discussion reflects a mix of assumptions and interpretations regarding the dynamics of the system.

Kolahal Bhattacharya
Messages
133
Reaction score
1
A car is driven on a large revolving platform which rotates with constant angular speed w.At t=0, a driver leaves the origin and follows a line painted radially outward on the platformwith a constant speed v0.The total weight of the car is W,and the co-eff. of friction between the car and the stage is mu.
1.Find the acceleration of the car at t>0 using polar co-ordinates.
2.Find the time in whih the car just starts to slide.
Find the direction of friction force w.r.t. the instantaneous position vector R just before the car starts to skid.

It's a big difficult problem.I followede that the path will be a spiral startig from the origin.But, cannot confidently draw the free body diagram including the polar co-ordinates.So, I could not get the equation.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Kolahal Bhattacharya said:
A car is driven on a large revolving platform which rotates with constant angular speed w.At t=0, a driver leaves the origin and follows a line painted radially outward on the platformwith a constant speed v0.The total weight of the car is W,and the co-eff. of friction between the car and the stage is mu.
1.Find the acceleration of the car at t>0 using polar co-ordinates.
2.Find the time in whih the car just starts to slide.
Find the direction of friction force w.r.t. the instantaneous position vector R just before the car starts to skid.

It's a big difficult problem.I followede that the path will be a spiral startig from the origin.But, cannot confidently draw the free body diagram including the polar co-ordinates.So, I could not get the equation.
Does the platform rotate at constant angular speed after the car starts moving radially outward? I will assume it does. (It is a more interesting problem if it doesn't).

The (centripetal) acceleration of the car is F_c(t) = -m\omega^2\vec{r}(t) = -m\omega^2v_0t\hat r

This centripetal force has to be supplied by static friction between the wheels and the platform, so \mu_s mg = F_c = m\omega^2v_0t

Can you do the rest?

AM
 
Andrew Mason said:
The (centripetal) acceleration of the car is F_c(t) = -m\omega^2\vec{r}(t) = -m\omega^2v_0t\hat r

But the acceleration of the car is not centripetal.

What equations give the motion of the car in polar coodinates?
 
George Jones said:
But the acceleration of the car is not centripetal.

What equations give the motion of the car in polar coodinates?
You are quite right. At any point, its velocity is the vector sum of its radial and tangential velocity. Because the tangential speed increases with increasing radius which increases linearly with time, there is a tangential acceleration as well as centripetal acceleration. The total acceleration is the vector sum of the two, which has to equal the frictional force to avoid slipping.

AM
 
The net acceleration is the coriolis acceleration and the centrepetal acceleration.
So
So the radial part is -rw^2
angular part is 2wv0

So the net acceleration is
sqrt(r^2.w^4+4w^2.v0^2)=mu.g
which gives
r=v0.t=sqrt(mu^2g^2-4w^2v0^2)/w^2

So

t=sqrt(mu^2.g^2-4w^2v0^2)/(v0.w^2)It is clear that mu.g>2w.v0
Otherwise the car will start sliding from the start itself
 
Last edited:

Similar threads

Replies
14
Views
6K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
2K
  • · Replies 28 ·
Replies
28
Views
3K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
5K
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
4K
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
5K
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
5K