Related questions with answers
A small sphere is hung by a string from the ceiling of a van. When the van is stationary, the sphere hangs vertically. However, when the van accelerates, the sphere swings backward so that the string makes an angle of
with respect to the vertical. (a) Derive an expression for the magnitude a of the acceleration of the van in terms of the angle
and the magnitude g of the acceleration due to gravity. (b) Find the acceleration of the van when
(c) What is the angle
when the van moves with a constant velocity?
Solutions
VerifiedThe angle of the sphere when the van is moving is . We need to: a) derive the expression of the acceleration, first by the terms of the angle, then by the terms of the gravitational acceleration b) calculate the acceleration of the van if:
c) calculate the angle when the van is moving with a constant velocity.
We know the gravitational acceleration is:
Part a)
Analyze the forces acting on a small sphere, according to Newton's law:
Therefore, the final result is:
Part b)
Now it is necessary to determine the acceleration if the angle is known.
Therefore, the acceleration is:
Part c)
When the small sphere is moving at a constant speed the acceleration is zero.
Therefore, when the sphere moves with constant speed the angle is:
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