This question aims to develop a practical understanding of Newton’s laws of motion. It uses the concepts of tension in a string, the weight of a body, and the centripetal/centrifugal force.
Any force acting along a string is called the tension in the string. It is denoted by T. The weight of a body with mass m is given by the following formula:
w = mg
Where g = 9.8 m/s^2 is the gravitational acceleration. The centripetal force is the force acting toward the center of a circle whenever a body is moving in the circular path. It is mathematically given by the following formula:
Where
Expert Answer
During the part of motion where the speed of the van is uniform (constant), the block is hanging vertically downward. In this case, the weight
During the part of motion where the van is moving along a circular path of radius
In this case, the weight
So we have two equations:
Dividing equation (1) by equation (2):
Substituting numerical values:
Numerical Result
Example
Find the angle theta in the same scenario given above if the speed was 12 m/s.
Recall equation no. (3):