Question

Question 3

Astronauts living in space for considerable periods of time have to adapt to weightlessness. One method of creating artificial gravity is to build a space station in the form of a ring, and spin it so that the centripetal force on the humans mimics the feel of a gravitational force.

A space station is planned to have a radius of 500 m (Figure 7). It will be spun so that the centripetal acceleration is 9.80 m s–2.

(a) What will be the angular velocity of the feet of the astronauts?

(3 marks)

(b) At how many revolutions per minute will the space station need to spin?

Answer 1

a)

$$g=\omega^2r\\9.8=500\omega^2\\\omega=0.14\frac{rad}{s}$$

b)

$$\omega=0.14\frac{60}{2\pi}=1.34\frac{rev}{min}$$