Question

Problem 1. In Francois Truffaut’s classic film “The 400 Blows” there is a scene where the protagonist, a small boy named Antoine (m = 50 kg), is on a carnival ride that spins him inside a drum in a horizontal circle. If the diameter of the drum to be 5.0 meters and the angular velocity to be 33 revolutions per minute,

(a) Find the acceleration experienced by Antoine, expressed in units of G’s.

(b) Identify the force responsible for centripetal acceleration and find its magnitude.

(c) Find the minimum coefficient of friction for the carnival ride to work, i.e. such that the boy does not slip down.

(d) Does your result for (c) depends on the mass of the passenger? Explain

Answer 1