- #1
thestudent101
- 21
- 0
I have a physics assignment. Part of it is to calculate the speed throughout the rollercoaster and to not exceed 4.5g's of force. Anyway, I'm calculating the speed of the rollercoaster using the formula
0=g(h2-h1)+0.5(v2^2-v1^2)+μNd
(I have already simplified to not include the mass (excluding the reaction force which will be takne out later)
the first two parts of the equation are fine, and μ is 0.01 and the rollercoaster has traveled a distance of 13.8m. To calculate the reaction force I have been using trig ratios, estimating the angle off the diagram, and using -mg as the adjacent side. I am now stuck because I'm on a 90 degree inclince. The angle between the adjacent side (-mg) and the reaction force is 90degrees so I can't use trig ratios as the angle is 90 degrees and if i swap the sides around the hypotenuse is no longer the longest side.
I was thinking that maybe friction would simply be zero
eg. assume a force of 10N if the cart is facing up on a horizontal plane, -10N if the cart is facing down on a horizontal plane. Theoretically wouldn't it be 0N halfway? But then you can't have zero friction can you?
Please help! :)
0=g(h2-h1)+0.5(v2^2-v1^2)+μNd
(I have already simplified to not include the mass (excluding the reaction force which will be takne out later)
the first two parts of the equation are fine, and μ is 0.01 and the rollercoaster has traveled a distance of 13.8m. To calculate the reaction force I have been using trig ratios, estimating the angle off the diagram, and using -mg as the adjacent side. I am now stuck because I'm on a 90 degree inclince. The angle between the adjacent side (-mg) and the reaction force is 90degrees so I can't use trig ratios as the angle is 90 degrees and if i swap the sides around the hypotenuse is no longer the longest side.
I was thinking that maybe friction would simply be zero
eg. assume a force of 10N if the cart is facing up on a horizontal plane, -10N if the cart is facing down on a horizontal plane. Theoretically wouldn't it be 0N halfway? But then you can't have zero friction can you?
Please help! :)