You’re driving your pickup truck around a curve with a radius of 22 m . A box in the back of the truck is pressed up against the wall of the truck.
How fast must you drive so that the force of the wall on the box equals the weight of the box?
Known Variables:
radius (r): 22 m
gravity (g): 9.8
“Centrifugal force represents the effects of inertia that arise in connection with rotation and which are experienced as an outward force away from the center of rotation.”
Since its a truck moving around a circle, we assume that it would be centrifugal force.
Centrifugal force Fc = m x v2 / r
Weight = mg
As required by the question
Fc = W
v2 /r = g
given radius r = 22 m
v2 /22 = 9.8
Solve for v
required speed v = √(22 * 9.8)
= 14.35 m/s
v=15 m/s
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