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October 08, 2025, 09:39:56 am

Author Topic: Banked Curves Circular Motion Question  (Read 3445 times)  Share 

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leflyi

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Banked Curves Circular Motion Question
« on: March 10, 2013, 08:24:57 pm »
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A cycling velodrome has a turn that is banked at 33 degrees to the horizontal. The radius of the track at this point is 28m.

- Determine the speed at which a cyclist of mass 55kg would experience no sideways    force on their bike as they ride this section of track

Just a little unsure of how to tackle this question, I've tried multiple ways but no luck..

Any hints would be appreciated!

thanks- Leflyi
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availn

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Re: Banked Curves Circular Motion Question
« Reply #1 on: March 10, 2013, 09:06:10 pm »
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If the track is frictionless, then the only force keeping the cyclist in centripetal motion is the horizontal component of the cyclist's normal reaction. Draw a diagram for this, and you will find:

Nhorizontal = mg sinθ
Nhorizontal = 55kg x 10ms-2 x sin(33°)
Nhorizontal = 300N

This is the centripetal force acting on the cyclist. From here it's quite simple:

F = mv2 / r
300N = 55kg x v2 / 28m
v2 = 152Nm kg-1
v = 12.3 ms-1

On a side note, the cyclist's weight is not required in this problem, as it ends up cancelling itself out. You could solve this through acceleration only.

mg sinθ = mv2 / r
∴ g sinθ = v2 / r
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leflyi

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Re: Banked Curves Circular Motion Question
« Reply #2 on: March 10, 2013, 09:16:33 pm »
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Thanks for the reply, yet i figured out what I had been doing incorrectly, I incorrectly added my vectors... :O Hahha

Thanks anyway.

Edit

I solved through this method:



« Last Edit: March 10, 2013, 09:36:27 pm by leflyi »
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