The track near the top of your favorite roller coaster is looped with the diameter of 20m. When you are at the top, you feel as if you weight one-third of your true weight.How fast is the roller coaster moving?

1 Answer
Nov 8, 2015

#16.16"m/s"#

Explanation:

At the top of the ride the net force experienced will be the difference between the centripetal force and the weight .This is equal to #(mg)/3# so we can write:

#(mv^2)/r-mg=(mg)/3#

#:.cancel(m)(v^2/r-g)=(cancel(m)g)/3#

#:.v^2/r=(4g)/3#

#v=sqrt((4gr)/3)#

#v=sqrt((4xx9.8xx10)/3)#

#v=11.4"m/s"#