The drum of Discomfort is an amusement park ride which consists of a large vertical hollow cylinder which turns on its axis. A person of mass M enters the drum (inside-radius R ) While the drum is still and stands against the wall. The drum begins to turn, until it achieves uniform rotation with period T and the rider feels as if some force is pushing him against the wall (see figure). Then the floor drops down, so there is nothing touching the bottoms of the rider's shoes.
Assume the coefficient of friction between the rider's clothes and the surface of the drum is 
.
(i) During uniform rotation, after the floor drops, what are the forces acting on a rider, besides gravity acting down and a force acting up?
Text Solution
Verified by ExpertsCHECK THE SOLUTION.
(i) We draw a force diagram including the force of gravity.
The only thing touching the rider once the floor drops is the side of the drum, which exerts a normal force that ends up being toward the axis of rotation. It also exerts a frictional force, which is up (balancing gravity). For uniform circular motion, we know the net force must be toward the center of rotation, so we can see that this force diagram is complete.
(ii) From the diagram we can see that the normal force provides the centripetal force.
(iii) The upward force must balance the gravitational force, so the magnitude of the upward force must be Mg as well.
Prepare Smarter with CGP Edu
Get practice questions, solutions, and test series in one place.
Write a Review
Share your experience with this question and solution.
Commentary
Send your comment, doubt, correction, or feedback to admin.
Similar Questions
Explore conceptually related problems