4-62. An astronaut in training is spinning around in a device that rotates at 30 revolutions per minute. (a) If the astronaut is 7.5 m from the centre of the device, what is the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration? (b) Express the answer in terms of "g," the magnitude of the acceleration due to gravity. [Ans. (a) 74 m/s2 (b) 7.6 g]



ACCUMULATED SOLUTION
The expression for centripetal acceleration is: ac = 4p2r/T2


Correct!ac = 4p2r/T2 Text Eq. 4-16.
In fact, the other choice ac = v2/r is also correct. We will use ac = 4p2r/T2 but at the end you should go back and follow the alternate solution as well.

For this solution we need the value of T which is:

(A)   the time for one revolution

(B)   the time for 30 revolutions

(C)   the number of revolutions in one second