What is the minimum speedthat a roller coaster car must have in order to make it around an inside loop and just barely lose contact with the track at the top of the loop (see Figure 5.76)? The centre of the car moves along a circular arc of radius. Include a carefully labelled force diagram. State briefly what approximations you make. Design a plausible roller coaster loop, including numerical values for vand R.

Short Answer

Expert verified

The minimum speed that a roller coaster car must have in order to make it around an inside loop and just barely lose contact with the track at the top of the loop is Rg.

The labelled force diagram,

Step by step solution

01

Given data

The centre of the car moves along a circular arc of radius R.

02

Definition of force

A force is a push or pull on an object is because of the interaction of the thing with another object. Every time two things interact, a force is exerted on each of them .The acted force may be of attraction or of repulsion .The two items no longer feel the force after the interaction ends

03

Determining the minimum speed a roller coaster car

The net force on an object is equal to the rate of change of momentum and can be written as the sum of two components.

The parallel rate of change of momentumdpdtand the perpendicular rate of change of momentumdpdtare the two elements that we are concerned with.

Fnet=dpdt=dpdtll+dpdt

In this case, the force acting on the object is in +y or -y direction, therefore, there is no parallel force and equals zero.

dpdt=0

As a result, the rate change is the direction change owing to the perpendicular rate of change.

The net force exerted on the object equals the rate change of the momentum and the magnitude of the perpendicular rate change at speeds much less than the speed of light is given by

Fnet=dpdt=mv2R

Where R the radius of the circle path is, v is the speed of the roller car and m is the mass of the car.

Also, the car is under two forces, the centrifugal forceFc and its weightmg, and at the top of the path, both forces are in opposite direction to each other so the net force of both forces is

Fnet=Fc-mg

To make the roller car just barely lose contact with the track at the top of the loop, the net force on the truck must be zero.

Fnet=Fc-mg0=mv2R-mgv2R=gv=Rg

The speed, in this case, depends on the radius of the circle path.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

In each of the following cases identify all objects in the surroundings that exert forces on the system, and draw a free-body diagram for the system. Assume that air resistance is negligible. (a) You hit a baseball with a bat. Choose the baseball as the system, and consider the instant of contact with the bat. (b) You are playing with a yo-yo. Choose the yo-yo as the system. As the yo-yo moves downward, you pull up on the string.

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