Centripetal/radial velocity in a water tank.

[Kwetla]

Hi,

We are running an experiment where we pull a velocity measuring probe through water at certain speeds to calibrate it.

However, our linear motor broke, so we have to try and use our rotary one instead.

We've set the probe up so that it gets pulled round in a circle at a set angular velocity, but my question is this:

Is it possible to calculate the magnitude of the effective centripetal velocity that the probe would experience? i.e the velocity of the probe being pulled to the centre?

Would it even experience a radial velocity? I think that it would...but I'm not sure how we could calculate it so that we could remove it.

Thanks in advance

 

[eljose79]

!

Hello,

Thank you for sharing your experiment with us. It is definitely possible to calculate the magnitude of the effective centripetal velocity that the probe would experience. To do so, you will need to consider the following factors:

1. Angular velocity: This is the rate at which the probe is being pulled in a circular motion. It is usually measured in radians per second (rad/s). You will need to know the exact value of the angular velocity in order to calculate the centripetal velocity.

2. Radius of the circle: This is the distance from the center of the circle to the probe. It is usually measured in meters (m). You will need to measure or know the radius in order to calculate the centripetal velocity.

3. Mass of the probe: This is the weight of the probe, measured in kilograms (kg). The mass of the probe will affect the magnitude of the centripetal velocity.

Once you have these three factors, you can use the following formula to calculate the centripetal velocity:

V = ωr

Where V is the centripetal velocity, ω is the angular velocity, and r is the radius.

As for your question about whether the probe would experience a radial velocity, it is possible that it would experience some radial component of velocity as it is being pulled towards the center of the circle. However, this can be accounted for in the calculation of the centripetal velocity.

I hope this helps and good luck with your experiment!