PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Further mechanics and thermal physics · Further mechanics and thermal physics
Problem
A toy car of mass 0.20kg enters the bottom of a rigid, frictionless vertical loop of radius 0.30m with a speed of 5.0m⋅s−1. Assume the loop is perfectly circular and lies in a vertical plane.
(a) Determine the car’s speed at the top of the loop.
(b) Calculate the magnitude of the normal force exerted on the car by the track at the top of the loop.
(c) Determine the magnitude of the normal force on the car at the bottom of the loop.
(d) If the car’s initial speed at the bottom were reduced to just the critical value required for maintaining contact, qualitatively describe how the normal force would vary as the car travels from the bottom to the top of the loop.