Problem 4-62 Centripetal acceleration - Part 4 - C

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) \(74\; m/s^2\)   (b) \(7.6\; g\)]

Accumulated Solution

The expression for centripetal acceleration is: \(a_c = v^2/r\)

\(\text{The speed} \; v = d/t \; \text{where}\; d = 47.1 \;m \)

Correct!

The time \(t = (1/30)\; \text{min}\)

Expressed in seconds this is:

(A)   \(2\; s\)

(B)   \(½ \;s\)