ATAR Notes: Forum
VCE Stuff => VCE Science => VCE Mathematics/Science/Technology => VCE Subjects + Help => VCE Physics => Topic started by: CossieG on October 18, 2013, 11:02:22 pm
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Say we have a car turning around a corner...
Velocity is tangential to the circumference of the circle, and centripetal force/friction is towards the centre of the circle.
So what vector joins those two as the hypotenuse of the triangle?? Is it the normal reaction?? Or am i thinking about this in the wrong way??
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Okay, so the velocity of the car isn't a force. It's, well, a velocity.
We can't really 'add' the velocity of the car to the frictional force because the velocity isn't a force while a frictional force clearly is. Hence, we can't really add them to make sides of a triangle, because they're completely different quantities.
Secondly, we can't really add the force vectors together to show that the net force is 0 in this scenario because the net force isn't 0. There is always a force acting towards the centre of the car's circular path, providing the acceleration to keep the car turning in a circle.
Note: I reread my response and thought I should probably point I'm not mocking you in any way. This is just how I talk. : )