Circular (Centripetal) Motion Practice Questions • Nerd Notes

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What we found:

A car is going through a dip in the road whose curvature approximates a circle of radius \( 200 \) \( \text{m} \). At what velocity will the occupants of the car appear to weigh \( 20\% \) more than their normal weight \( (1.2\,W) \)?

The occupants of a car traveling at a speed of \( 30 \) \( \text{m/s} \) note that on a particular part of a road their apparent weight is \( 15\% \) higher than their weight when driving on a flat road.

A ball is attached to the end of a string. It is swung in a vertical circle of radius \( 0.33 \) \( \text{m} \). What is the minimum velocity that the ball must have to make it around the circle?

A ball is attached to the end of a string. It is swung in a vertical circle of radius \( 2.5 \) \( \text{m} \). What is the minimum velocity that the ball must have to make it around the circle?

A car is going over the top of a hill whose curvature approximates a circle of radius \( 350 \) \( \text{m} \). At what velocity will the occupants of the car appear to weigh \( 10\% \) less than their normal weight?

A loop-de-loop roller coaster has a radius of \( 30 \) \( \text{m} \). Determine the apparent weight a \( 500 \) \( \text{N} \) person will feel at the bottom of the loop while traveling at a speed of \( 25 \) \( \text{m/s} \) and at the top of the loop while traveling at a speed of \( 20 \) \( \text{m/s} \).

The maximum acceleration a pilot can withstand without blacking out is about \( 7.0 \) \( g \). In an endurance test for a jet plane’s pilot, what is the maximum speed he can tolerate if he is spun in a horizontal circle of diameter \( 85 \) \( \text{m} \)?

Consider an object on a rotating disk at a distance \( r \) from its center, held in place on the disk by static friction. Which of the following statements is not true concerning this object?

A car moving around a circular track with a constant speed has

Why do you tend to slide across the car seat when the car makes a sharp turn?

An object of mass \( m = 3.0 \) \( \text{kg} \) is attached to one end of a string with negligible mass and length \( L = 0.80 \) \( \text{m} \). The object is released from rest at time \( t = 0 \), when the string is horizontal. At time \( t = t_1 \) the object is at the location shown in the figure, where the string is vertical. Which of the following is most nearly the magnitude of the tension in the string at time \( t = t_1 \)?

Are astronauts really “weightless” while in orbit?

A race car traveling at a constant speed of \( 50 \) \( \text{m/s} \) drives around a circular track that is \( 500 \) \( \text{m} \) in diameter. What is the magnitude of the acceleration of the car?

Why do pilots sometimes black out while pulling out at the bottom of a dive?

A comet of mass \( m_c = 3.2 \times 10^{14} \) \( \text{kg} \) is orbiting a star with mass \( m_s = 1.8 \times 10^{30} \) \( \text{kg} \). The comet’s orbit is elliptical. At its closest point, the comet is a distance \( r_1 = 8.3 \times 10^{10} \) \( \text{m} \) from the star, and at its farthest point, the comet is a distance \( r_2 = 4.9 \times 10^{11} \) \( \text{m} \) from the star. What is the change in the kinetic energy of the comet as it moves along its orbit from distance \( r_2 \) to distance \( r_1 \) from the star?

An object is moving in a horizontal circle at a constant speed. Which of the following correctly describes the linear and angular velocities of the object between any point along the circular path?

A race car travels in a circular track of radius \( 200 \) \( \text{m} \). If the car moves with a constant speed of \( 80 \) \( \text{m/s} \),

Young David experimented with slings before tackling Goliath. He found that he could develop an angular speed of \( 8.0 \) \( \text{rev/s} \) in a sling \( 0.60 \) \( \text{m} \) long. If he increased the length to \( 0.90 \) \( \text{m} \), he could revolve the sling only \( 6.0 \) times per second. (a) Which angular speed gives the greater linear speed? (b) What is the centripetal acceleration at \( 8.0 \) \( \text{rev/s} \)? (c) What is the centripetal acceleration at \( 6.0 \) \( \text{rev/s} \)?

Two satellites of equal mass, \( S_1 \) and \( S_2 \), orbit the Earth. \( S_1 \) is orbiting at a distance \( r \) from the Earth’s centre at speed \( v \). \( S_2 \) orbits at a distance \( 2r \) from the Earth’s centre at speed \( \dfrac{v}{\sqrt{2}} \). The ratio of the centripetal force on \( S_1 \) to the centripetal force on \( S_2 \) is

A car rounds a curve at a steady \( 50 \) \( \text{km/h} \). If it rounds the same curve at a steady \( 70 \) \( \text{km/h} \), will its acceleration be any different? Explain.

The Moon does not crash into the Earth because:

A child whirls a ball in a vertical circle. Assuming the speed of the ball is constant (an approximation), when would the tension in the cord connected to the ball be greatest?

While driving fast around a sharp right turn, you find yourself pressing against the car door. What is happening?

A car of mass \( M \) moves around a circularly banked curve on a freeway off-ramp. The off-ramp has a radius of curvature \( R \) and is raised to an angle \( \theta \) from the horizontal. The road is slick, and friction is negligible.

A ball of mass \( m \) is fastened to a string. The ball swings at constant speed in a vertical circle of radius \( R \) with the other end of the string held fixed. Neglecting air resistance, what is the difference between the string’s tension at the bottom of the circle and at the top of the circle?

A car with speed \( v \) and an identical car with speed \( 3v \) both travel the same circular section of an unbanked road. If the frictional force required to keep the faster car on the road without skidding is \( F \), then the frictional force required to keep the slower car on the road without skidding is

A centripetal force of \( 5.0 \) newtons is applied to a rubber stopper moving at a constant speed in a horizontal circle. If the same force is applied, but the radius is made smaller, what happens to the speed, \( v \), and the frequency, \( f \), of the stopper?

A conical pendulum is formed by attaching a ball of mass \( m \) to a string of length \( \ell \), then allowing the ball to move in a horizontal circle of radius \( r \). The following figure shows that the string traces out the surface of a cone, hence the name.

An object moves at constant speed in a circular path of radius \( r \) at a rate of \( 1 \) revolution per second. What is its acceleration?

A small block slides without friction along a track toward a circular loop. The block has more than enough speed to remain firmly in contact with the track as it goes around the loop. The magnitude of the block’s acceleration at the top of the loop is

A roller coaster ride at an amusement park lifts a car of mass 700 kg to point A at a height of 90 m above the lowest point on the track, as shown above. The car starts from rest at A, rolls with negligible friction down the incline and follows the track around a loop of radius 20 m. Point B, the highest point on the loop, is at a height of 50 m above the lowest point on the track.

An adult exerts a horizontal force on a swing that is suspended by a rope of length \( L \), holding it at an angle \( \theta \) with the vertical. The child in the swing has a weight \( W \) and dimensions that are negligible. In terms of \( W \) and \( \theta \), determine:

A particle of mass \(m\) slides down a fixed, frictionless sphere of radius \(R\), starting from rest at the top. In terms of \(m\), \(g\), \(R\), and \(\theta\), determine each of the following for the particle while it is sliding on the sphere.

In the figure above, the marble rolls down the track and around a loop-the-loop of radius \( R \). The marble has mass \( m \) and radius \( r \). What minimum height \( h_{min} \) must the track have for the marble to make it around the loop-the-loop without falling off? Express your answer in terms of the variables \( R \) and \( r \).

A new car is tested on a 230-m-diameter track. If the car speeds up at a steady [katex] 1.56 \, m/s^2, how long after starting is the magnitude of its centripetal acceleration equal to the tangential acceleration?

A \(2.2 \times 10^{21} \, \text{kg}\) moon orbits a distant planet in a circular orbit of radius \(1.5 \times 10^8 \, \text{m}\). It experiences a \(1.1 \times 10^{19} \, \text{N}\) gravitational pull from the planet. What is the moon’s orbital period in Earth days?

A roller coaster car crosses the top of a circular loop-the-loop at twice the critical speed. What is the ratio of the normal force to the gravitational force?

A pendulum consists of a ball of mass m suspended at the end of a massless cord of length L as shown. The pendulum is drawn aside through an angle of 60° with the vertical and released. At the low point of its swing, the speed of the pendulum ball is

On a harsh winter day, a 1500 kg vehicle takes a circular banked exit ramp (radius R = 150 m; banking angle of 10 degrees) at a speed of 30 mph, since the speed limit is 35 mph. However, the exit ramp is completely iced up (= frictionless). To make matters worse, a wind is blowing parallel to the ramp in a downward direction. The wind exerts a force of 3000 N. Under these conditions, can the driver continue to follow a safe horizontal circle on the exit ramp and stay below the speed limit? To convert mph into m/s use 1 mi = 1607 m and 1 hr is 3600 s.

Friction provides the force needed for a car to travel around a flat, circular race track.

A \(2 \, \text{kg}\) ball is swung in a vertical circle. The length of the string the ball is attached to is \(0.7 \, \text{m}\). It takes \(0.4 \, \text{s}\) for the ball to travel one revolution (assume the ball travels at constant speed).

A compressed spring mounted on a disk can project a small ball. When the disk is not rotating, as shown in the top view above, the ball moves radially outward. The disk then rotates in a counterclockwise direction as seen from above, and the ball is projected outward at the instant the disk is in the position shown above. Which of the following best shows the subsequent path of the ball relative to the ground?

An 80 kg person sits in a swing that goes around in a circle. The chain connecting the string to the center (so the length of the string) of the ride is 8 m long and it makes and angle of 40° with the horizontal. What is the speed of the person going around in a circle?

A communications satellite orbits the Earth at an altitude of \(35{,}000 \, \text{km}\) above the Earth’s surface. Take the mass of Earth to be \(6 \times 10^{24} \, \text{kg}\) and the radius of Earth to be \(6.4 \times 10^6 \, \text{m}\). What is the satellite’s velocity?

A planet of constant mass orbits the sun in an elliptical orbit. Neglecting any friction effects, what happens to the planet’s rotational kinetic energy about the sun’s center?

A car moves at constant speed in a circle of radius 75 m on a horizontal road. The coefficient of static friction is 0.62. Find the maximum speed the car can go without sliding.

A car is moving up the side of a circular roller coaster loop of radius \( 12 \) \( \text{m} \). The angular velocity is \( 1.8 \) \( \text{rad/s} \) and angular acceleration is \( -0.82 \) \( \text{rad/s}^2 \). The car is at the same elevation as the center of the loop. Find the magnitude and direction of the acceleration.

A 2.0 kg ball on the end of a 0.65 m long string is moving in a vertical circle. At the bottom of the circle, its speed is 4.0 m/s. Find the tension in the string.

A discus is held at the end of an arm that starts at rest. The average angular acceleration of [katex]54 \, \text{rad/s}^2 [/katex] lasts for 0.25 s. Find the average tangential acceleration. Find the speed at release. Find the centripetal acceleration just before release. The path is circular and has radius 1.1 m.

A simple pendulum consists of a bob of mass 1.8 kg attached to a string of length 2.3 m. The pendulum is held at an angle of 30° from the vertical by a light horizontal string attached to a wall, as shown above.