Circular Motion (not just uniform!)

Use the water accelerometers

Draw a line on your accelerometer which is at an angle of 15 degrees above the horizontal. Sit on a chair and hold the accelerometer so that it points radially away from your body. Now swivel your chair around in a circle at a constant speed. Vary the speed and/or radius of the rotating accelerometer until the water's surface matches this line. Compute the acceleration of the water.

Compute accelerations around a track

You drive a go-cart around a go cart track, consisting of two arcs (radii shown on diagram) connected by two straight segments as shown.

  1. You drive at a constant 5.0 m/s. What is your acceleration (size and direction) at points W, X, Y, and Z?

  2. Your friend is more adventuresome. She drives the small arc at 5.0 m/s, then accelerates on the lower straight segment from 5 m/s to 15 m/s, which takes 5.0 s, drives the large arc at 15 m/s, and then gradually slows back to 10.0 m/s along the top straight segment. Find the acceleration (size and direction) for the points W, X, Y, and Z for your friend.