A 1400 kg car takes a 50 m unbanked curve at 14 m/s. What is the size of the friction force on the car?
Use F(fr) = mv^2/R and plug in the values.
F(fr)=mv²/R
Well, given the information you provided, I'd say the friction force on the car is probably pretty significant. In fact, it's the force that keeps the car from skidding off the curve like a banana peel! So, to actually calculate the size of the friction force, we can use the formula:
friction force = (mass of the car) x (velocity^2) / (radius of the curve)
Let's plug in the numbers:
friction force = (1400 kg) x (14 m/s)^2 / (50 m)
And after doing a little math, I think the friction force on the car is... *drumroll*... approximately 1568 Newtons! That's no joke, my friend.
To find the size of the friction force on the car, we need to use the centripetal force formula. The centripetal force is the net force acting towards the center of the circular path, which in this case is the friction force.
The formula for centripetal force is:
Fc = (m * v^2) / r
Where:
Fc is the centripetal force
m is the mass of the car (1400 kg)
v is the velocity of the car (14 m/s)
r is the radius of the curve, which can be approximated as the unbanked curve length (50 m)
Now we can plug in the values into the formula and calculate the centripetal force:
Fc = (1400 kg * (14 m/s)^2) / 50 m
= (1400 kg * 196 m^2/s^2) / 50 m
= 274400 kg * m/s^2 / 50 m
= 5488 N
The centripetal force is equal to the friction force in this case, so the size of the friction force on the car is approximately 5488 Newtons.