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Durgesh Kumar
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Question 775064-3-26R. You are riding on Air Gliders, a thrill ride at Calaway Park, Calgary, that
swings riders around in a circle while metal arms move the cars up and down.

(a) What is the centripetal force experienced by a 90 kg rider swinging around at 20 m/s in a circle
with a 16 m radius?

(b) Calculate the force when the ride’s arms close to a radius of 10 m.

(c) Calculate the force when the ride slows to 5 m/s, keeping the radius at 10 m.

Solution:

Riding on air gliders which swings around in a circle requires centripetal force.

As we know that, any object moving with uniform circular motion has a centripetal acceleration of
v2
magnitude a c = ; where v is the speed of object and r is the radius of the circular path.
r
From Newton’s second law, we know that forces cause accelerations. So, for an object moving with
uniform circular motion, we have

∑ F=ma c
2
F c=m v
r
(a) Given, mass of rider m=90 kg , Radius of circle r=16m and Speed of rider is v=20m/s.
2
v
Hence, centripetal force F c =¿m
r
2
(20 m /s)
⇒ 90 kg ×
16 m
 m
⇒ 2250 kg 2
s
⇒ 2250 N

(b) In this case, Given, mass of rider m=90 kg

Radius of circle r=10m
Speed of rider v = 20m/s
2
v
Hence, centripetal force F c =¿m
r
(20 m/ s)2
⇒ 90 kg ×
10 m
m
⇒ 3600 kg 2
s
⇒ 3600 N
Aliter: we can see that in this case radius is 5/8 times radius in section (a).

Also, we know that centripetal force is inversely proportional to radius of the circular path.

1
Hence, force F c =2250 × ⇒ 3600N
5 /8
(c) In this case, Given, mass of rider m = 90 kg
Radius of circle r = 10m
Speed of rider v=5m/s
2
v
Hence, centripetal force F c =¿ m
r
2
(5 m /s)
⇒ 90 kg ×
10 m
m
⇒ 225 kg 2
s
⇒225 N
Aliter: we can see that in this case speed is 1/4 times speed in section (b).

also, we know that centripetal force is directly proportional to square of the speed of the object.

1
Hence, force F c =3600× N
16
=225N