Question

An airplane in a wide sweeping ""outside"" loop can create zero gees inside the aircraft cabin. What must be the radius of curvature of the flight path for an aircraft moving at 150 m/s to create a condition of ""weightlessness"" inside the aircraft?

Answer 1

Answer:2.295 km

Explanation:

Given

velocity of aircraft $v=150 m/s$

As the airplane moves around the earth in a circular therefore plane must experience a centripetal force towards the center of the earth which will be provided by gravitational force.

Gravitational Pull $F=mg$

Centripetal Force $=\frac{mv^2}{r}$

Where m=mass of Airplane

r=radius of curvature

$mg=\frac{mv^2}{r}$

$r=\frac{v^2}{g}$

$r=\frac{150^2}{9.8}$

$r=2295.918 m$

$r=2.295 km$