Question

11. “The Rotor”. The amusement park ride known as “the rotor”, essentially a large hollow cylinder, rotates rapidly about a central axis. Riders stand on the floor up against the wall of this ride before it begins to rotate. Once the ride starts, all riders, the wall, and floor begin to rotate rapidly and undergo uniform circular motion. When the rotation speeds reaches a certain value, the floors fall away and the riders are held pinned against the wall where static friction balances out their weight, keeping them from falling. a) If the cylinder of the rotor is 2.4 m and the coefficient of static friction between a rider and the wall is 0.44, what is the minimum speed the rotor must undergo in order to keep the rider from falling (keep forces balanced vertically)? b) What is the centripetal acceleration the rider experiences?

Answer 1