Centripetal force

1. A 2.10 m rope attaches a tire to an overhanging tree limb. A girl swinging on

the tire has a tangential speed of 2.50 m/s. If the magnitude of the
centripetal force is 88.0 N, what is the mass of the girl and the tire?
2. A bicyclist is riding at a tangential speed of 13.2 m/s around a circular track.
The magnitude of the centripetal force is 377 N and the combined mass of
the bicycle and rider is 86.5 kg. What is the track’s radius?
3. A 905 kg car travels around a circular track with a circumference of 3.25 km.
If the magnitude of the centripetal force is 2140 N, what is the car’s
tangential speed?
4. Tarzan tries to cross a river by swinging from one bank to another on a vine
that is 10.0 m long. His speed at the bottom of the swing is 8.0 m/s. Tarzan
does not know that the vine has a breaking force of 1.0 x 103 N. What is the
largest mass that Tarzan can have and still make it safely across the river?
5. A stone of mass 150g is whirled around the head of a man in an inclined
plane on a rope that is 1.5m long. If the man is 1.8m long and the maximum
tension rope can with stand is 50N what is the range of the stone. State three
assumptions you have made during the calculations?
Set up
Procedure:
1. Place a small number of weights or washers (be sure that all of the washers you use are
the same size.) on the bottom clip of the apparatus. This part of the apparatus hangs
straight down, and the weight of the washers supplies the centripetal force.
2. Practice whirling the stopper (or ball) until you can keep the top clip a short distance
below the bottom of the glass tube while the stopper whirls. IMPORTANT! If the clip
touches the bottom of the glass tube, the weights are no longer supplying the centripetal
force! If the clip rises or falls appreciably as the stopper whirls, the radius of the circle is
changing. Practice! You must keep the whirling horizontal )
3. Use a stopwatch to measure the time taken for a reasonable number of revolutions (20 -
30 perhaps). Record your data.
4. Change the number of washers on the bottom clip (centripetal force) and repeat steps 3
and 4. Repeat for several different weights. Record the data.
5. Change the position of the top clip to change the radius of the circle. Repeat the
experiment for this radius. Be sure to indicate where the radius changes in your data table.
6. Keep both the radius of the circle and the speed constant while you vary the mass and the
centripetal force. You can design your own data table for this. You could also investigate
the relationship between the radius and the centripetal force.
Results

Calculate the period of revolution, T (the time to go around once) for

each trial. Show a sample calculation.
Calculate the linear speed, v, of the stopper for each trial. Include a
sample calculation. (Note: v = 2 𝜋r/T )
Theoretically, the centripetal force should be directly proportional to
the square of the speed. Construct a graph of centripetal force (mv2/r)
versus v2. (force- horizontal axis and speed -on the vertical axis).