An ice skater glides around a rink at a constant speed of 2 m/s. Is the skater accelerating?
my bad, drwls is right, didn't take for account that it's around the rink, so there's the centripetal acceleration to take for account
Yes. To skate "around" a rink, the direction of motion must change at the ends of the rink.
In addition, figure skaters usually glide on an inside or outside edge of the skate, which requires a curved path. They seldom skate in a straight line. If they do, points are deducted.
no, because he is at a constant speed, whenever you have a constant speed there is no acceleration
To determine if the ice skater is accelerating, we need to understand the definition of acceleration. Acceleration refers to a change in velocity, which includes both a change in speed and a change in direction.
In this case, the ice skater is moving at a constant speed of 2 m/s. Since the speed is not changing, we can conclude that the skater is not experiencing a change in speed. However, we cannot determine if there is any change in direction from the given information.
So, to fully answer the question, we would need to know if the ice skater is moving in a straight line or if there are any changes in their direction. If the skater is moving in a straight line without any changes in direction, then we can say that they are not accelerating.