Yes, I understand now. Thank you for explaining it to me.

[vanitymdl]

A electric model train travels at 31.7 cm/s around a circular track of radius 1.73 m. How many revolutions does it perform per second, i.e, what is the motion\'s frequency?
______ Rev / s

Find the train\'s period of revolution.
______ s

This is how I worked out the problem:
v^2/r = rw^2
.317^2/1.73 = 1.73w^2
.317^2/1.73^2 = w^2
w = 0.18323699421 radians per second.
there are 2 pi radians, so it takes 2pi radians / .1832 radians/second = seconds

34.3 seconds
1.75 revolutions per second (60/34.3)

I'm getting that 1.75 rev/s is wrong and I don't know why or how

 

[Dick]

A electric model train travels at 31.7 cm/s around a circular track of radius 1.73 m. How many revolutions does it perform per second, i.e, what is the motion\'s frequency?
______ Rev / s

Find the train\'s period of revolution.
______ s

This is how I worked out the problem:
v^2/r = rw^2
.317^2/1.73 = 1.73w^2
.317^2/1.73^2 = w^2
w = 0.18323699421 radians per second.
there are 2 pi radians, so it takes 2pi radians / .1832 radians/second = seconds

34.3 seconds
1.75 revolutions per second (60/34.3)

I'm getting that 1.75 rev/s is wrong and I don't know why or how

I would just use v=rw. It's a more basic formula. But it's going to give the same thing. You've got 34.3 seconds for the period ok. And 60/34.3 would be ok if you wanted revolution/minute because there are 60 seconds in a minute. But that's not what they are asking for. Can you fix it?

 

[vanitymdl]

But I thought 60/34.3 would give me the seconds? So what you're saying is that I have to convert 60/34.3 re/min to rev/sec? Isn't that what 34.3 is, it's seconds

 

[Dick]

But I thought 60/34.3 would give me the seconds? So what you're saying is that I have to convert 60/34.3 re/min to rev/sec? Isn't that what 34.3 is, it's seconds

If a revolution takes 2 seconds, how many revolutions per second? There is really no 60 needed.

 

[vanitymdl]

Okay so if it take 2 seconds per revolution. I would take my seconds which is 34.3 and multiply it by 2?

 

[Dick]

Okay so if it take 2 seconds per revolution. I would take my seconds which is 34.3 and multiply it by 2?

Noo. If it takes 2 seconds to make a revolution, then in 1 second it will make 1/2 revolution. So that's 1/2 revolution per second. Not 60/2. Just think about it. This is a different question.

 

[vanitymdl]

Okay well I'm still getting it wrong but thank you anyway

 

[Dick]

Okay well I'm still getting it wrong but thank you anyway

You're welcome. But think about this. Where did the 60 in your problem even come from? I think you are just plugging into formulas without thinking about what they mean.

 

[vanitymdl]

What I understood is I get 34.3/2 and get 17.5 but that's still the wrong answer

 

[Dick]

What I understood is I get 34.3/2 and get 17.5 but that's still the wrong answer

The 2 was just a simple example to try to get you to understand where the formulas are coming from. Here, I'll spell it out: if p is period in seconds, then 60/p is revolutions per minute. 1/p is revolutions per second. Can you understand why?