Yahoo Answers is shutting down on May 4th, 2021 (Eastern Time) and beginning April 20th, 2021 (Eastern Time) the Yahoo Answers website will be in read-only mode. There will be no changes to other Yahoo properties or services, or your Yahoo account. You can find more information about the Yahoo Answers shutdown and how to download your data on this help page.

dont get it #2......?

A car of unknown mass traveling at 19.4 m/s is rounding a curve with radius 80m that's "perfectly banked" for the car. (I think "perfectly banked" means no friction force is needed to keep the car at a constant height. A component of the normal force alone does that.)

If the car speeds up to a constant 25 m/s what coefficient of static friction will be needed to keep the car in its circular path and not skid?

1 Answer

Relevance
  • Algol
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    When there is no friction acting to hold the car in place (as you suggest, the normal force is serving this purpose), we can use Newton’s 2nd law to find the banking angle. The vertical component of the normal force is ncosθ, and it is balanced by the weight (mg) of the car. The normal force is then:

    ΣF(y) = 0 = ncosθ - mg

    n = mg/cosθ

    The horizontal equation has the centripetal force equal to the horizontal component of the normal force:

    ΣF(x) = mv²/r = nsinθ

    Plugging the expression for n into the centripetal force equation, we get:

    mv²/r = (mg/cosθ)sinθ

    θ = tan⁻¹(v²/rg)

    = tan⁻¹[(19.4m/s)² / (80.0m)(9.80m/s²)]

    θ = 25.6°

    I’ll skip the derivation of the relevant equation for the case where friction is present, but if you want it, I’ll provide it on request. The equation is:

    μ = (v² - rgtanθ) / (v²tanθ + rg)

    = [(25.0m/s)² - (80.0m)(9.80m/s²)tan25.6°] / [(25.0m/s)²tan25.6° + (80.0m)(9.80m/s²)]

    = 0.230

    Hope this helps.

Still have questions? Get your answers by asking now.