vwillis said:Homework Statement
A small body of mass 0.51 kg is attached by a 0.52 m long cord to a pin set into the surface of a frictionless table top. The body moves in a circle on the horizontal surface with a speed of 2.1π m/s.
(a) What is the magnitude of the radial acceleration of the body?
m/s2
(b) What is the tension in the cord?
The formula for radial acceleration is a = v^2/r, where a is the radial acceleration, v is the tangential velocity, and r is the radius of the circular path.
Radial acceleration is the acceleration towards the center of a circular path, while tangential acceleration is the acceleration along the tangent to the circular path. In other words, radial acceleration changes the direction of motion, while tangential acceleration changes the speed of the object.
Radial acceleration causes an object to continuously change direction as it moves along a circular path. This means that the object is constantly accelerating towards the center of the circle, even if its speed remains constant.
The units for radial acceleration are meters per second squared (m/s^2) in the SI system and feet per second squared (ft/s^2) in the English system.
No, the formula for radial acceleration is specifically for objects moving in a circular path. For non-circular motion, the acceleration formula would be different depending on the type of motion (e.g. linear, rotational).