Name ____________________________
Physics A
Date ________________
Per ______________
Circular Motion Practice Problems
1.
Steve has just sold 100 saw blades to a new client. In joy, he leans back in his swivel chair
and spins around. It takes 2 s to complete one revolution.
a. Find the period for 1 rotation.
b. Find the frequency of rotation.
2. The proverbial ‘frog in blender’ has a frequency of 0.8 Hz. Find the period.
3. Find the frequency for the second hand of the clock on the wall above the door in room 78.
4. Jerry is standing on the edge of a merry go round. Timmy uses his watch and times 20
rotations to be 43.8s.
a.
Find jerry’s linear speed when he is 0.6m from the center of the merry-go-round.
b. Find jerry’s linear speed when he is 0.3m from the center of the merry-go-round.
c.
Find jerry’s linear speed when he is 1.2m from the center of the merry-go-round.
5. A majorette for a local college is running a baton twirling class. The baton has a length of
0.75m and she spins it about the center. One of the students records a time of 5.6s for 20
revolutions while the majorette was twirling the baton.
a.
Find the period of one end of the spinning baton.
b. Find the frequency for that end of the baton.
c.
Freddy the fly lands on the end of the baton and holds on for dear life while it was
being spun. Determine the linear speed Freddy has while on the end of the baton.
d. Determine the centripetal acceleration Freddy has while on the end of the baton.
6. A skid pad is used to determine the level of grip to the ground a specific vehicle and tire
combination provide. Vehicles travel a circular path at a constant speed and time how long it
takes to travel around the path. After each set of successful trips, the speed of the
vehicle increases until the vehicle can no longer maintain the circular path at a constant
speed. Kyle is testing out his new tires driving around a 20m diameter path. He completes
23 laps in 92.29s.
a. Find the time for Kyle to complete one lap.
b. Find the linear speed Kyle will be traveling at while he is driving in circles.
c. Find the centripetal acceleration Kyle will measure.
d. Find the ratio of this to the value of g. How many g’s is it?
e. Kyle goes to a different skid pad and measures a period of 5.03s. Kyle also uses a
homemade g meter and measures an acceleration of 1.2g. What is the radius of this
new skid pad?
7. Let’s analyze the spinning Earth whose radius is 6.38 x106 m and completes one spin each
day.
a. What is the period in seconds?
Name ____________________________
Physics A
Date ________________
Per ______________
b. What is the speed of a person standing on the equator as the Earth rotates about
its axis?
c. What is the centripetal acceleration of the person?
8. The radius of the Earth in its orbit around the sun is 150,000,000,000 meters.
a.
What is the period in seconds?
b. What is the speed of the Earth as it is in orbit?
c. Find the centripetal acceleration of the Earth.
9. A 0.005 kg bug is on the edge of the blade of a ceiling fan. The fan is revolving twice every
second and has a radius of 54 cm.
a. Find the centripetal acceleration experienced by the bug.
b. Find the centripetal force the bug experiences.
c. Draw the free body diagram for the forces acting on the bug.
d. What force is providing the centripetal force on the bug?
10. Jared places his little brother on the outside edge of the merry-go-round at the
playground. The merry-go-round has a diameter of 2.15m and Jared’s little brother has a
mass of 15 kg. Find the maximum linear speed the merry-go-round can have if the
coefficient of static friction is 0.42.
11. A small hill in the middle of a roller coaster has a radius of 12.0m as shown. What is the
minimum speed the roller coaster car can be traveling when it reaches this point for gravity
to hold it on the track?