Question

A 9 kg car travels in a flat circle. At a certain instant the velocity of the car is 16 m/s West and the total acceleration of the car is 3 m/s2 at 54◦ North of West.
What is its radius? Answer in units of km

Answer 1

A 9 kg car travels in a flat circle. At a certain instant the velocity of the car is 16 m/s West and the total acceleration of the car is 3 m/s² at 54° North of West.

What is its radius? Answer in units of km

Solution:

$$a^{2} = a_{2}^{2} + a_{r}^{2}$$ $$a_{r} = a * \sin 54$$ $$a_{r} = \frac{V^{2}}{R}$$ $$R = \frac{V^{2}}{a * \sin 54} = \frac{16^{2}}{3 \sin 54} = 105\,m = 0.105\,km$$