Problem 4:

4) A toy car of mass M slides (not rolls) down a frictionless track that makes a circular loop of radius R at the bottom. The car starts from rest at height H, where H > 2R.
a) What is the car's speed at the bottom of the circle?
b) What is the car's speed at the top of the circle?
c) What is the minimum value of H such that the car goes around the loop without falling off under the force of gravity?
Solution:

This was done as a demonstration in class, and this exact problem was worked out completely then - so see your lecture notes for Sept 30. Note that this is also problem 8-36 in the text.

Test 2
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last updated: Oct 26 1998