Question

A cyclist rides in a circle with speed 8.1 m/s. What is his centripetal
acceleration if the circle has a radius of 27 m?

Answer 1

Explanation:

We know that the tangent velocity is 8.1 m/s. We also know that the tangent velocity can be written in the following way:

Vt = ωr with ω being the angular velocity.

We now calculate ω:

ω = Vt/r = 8.1 m/s / 27m = 0.3 rad/s

Now that we have ω we can calculate the centripetal aceleration:

a = ω^2 * r = ( 0.3 )^2 * 27 = 2.43 m/s^2