An amusement-park Ferris wheel carries riders in enclosed cars that travel in a…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · System of Particles and Rotational Motion · System of Particles and Rotational Motion
Problem
An amusement-park Ferris wheel carries riders in enclosed cars that travel in a vertical circle of radius 12 m. The wheel turns at a constant angular speed and completes one full revolution every 22 s.
(a) Determine the wheel’s frequency of rotation in revolutions per minute (rpm).
(b) Calculate the linear speed of a car as it moves along the circular path.
(c) For a single ride cycle, the wheel operates for 2 minutes at full speed and then slows uniformly to a stop in an additional 15 s. Determine the total number of complete revolutions made during the entire 135 s interval.
(d) While the wheel runs at full speed, compute the magnitude of the centripetal acceleration experienced by riders at the highest point of the circle. Express your answer both in m s⁻² and as a multiple of g=9.8m s−2.