Solved Example Problems for Centripetal force

Solved Example Problems for Centripetal force

Example 3.22

If a stone of mass 0.25 kg tied to a string executes uniform circular motion with a speed of 2 m s-1 of radius 3 m, what is the magnitude of tensional force acting on the stone?

Solution

Example 3.23

The Moon orbits the Earth once in 27.3 days in an almost circular orbit. Calculate the centripetal acceleration experienced by the Earth? (Radius of the Earth is 6.4 Ã— 106 m)

Solution

The centripetal acceleration is given by a = v2/r.  This expression explicitly depends on Moon’s speed which is non trivial. We can work with the formula

am is centripetal acceleration of the Moon due to Earth’s gravity.

ω is angular velocity.

Rm is the distance between Earth and the Moon, which is 60 times the radius of the Earth.

The centripetal acceleration of Moon towards the Earth is 0.00272 m s-2