A playground merry-go-round is a solid disk of radius
PHYSICS · Multi-part · A Level · Physics · Further mechanics and thermal physics · Further mechanics and thermal physics
Problem
A playground merry-go-round is a solid disk of radius 1.2m. A child stands at a point on the rim. Starting from rest, the merry-go-round spins with a constant angular acceleration such that the child’s measured tangential acceleration is 2.4m/s2. Ignore friction.
(a) Determine the magnitude of the angular acceleration of the merry-go-round.
(b) After 5.0s of spinning, calculate the magnitude of the child’s centripetal acceleration.
(c) Using your results from parts (a) and (b), compute the magnitude of the child’s total acceleration at t=5.0s. Justify how you combine the accelerations.