PHY10L - E106

ANALYSIS (E106)

1.        When the radius and mass are held constant, what do you expect to happen to the centripetal force if the frequency of rotation is increased?

Centripetal force will increase if the frequency of the rotation is increased because increasing the revolution per second will increase the centripetal force and will obviously accelerate. From the Newton's second law, centripetal force in terms of frequency of rotation is expressed by      (INSERT FORMULA HERE)       , thus, increasing the frequency ( f ) will increase and multiply the centripetal force by the squared if the frequency. Centripetal force is directly proportional to the frequency of rotation.

2.      When the centripetal force and mass are held constant, what do you expect to happen to the frequency if the radius of rotation is increased?

Increasing the radius will increase the circumference which means that the object would have to travel on a longer distance and will take much longer time to complete the whole revolution. Going back to the equation, solving for frequency will bring the radius ( r ) in the denominator. Increase in the denominator will decrease the quotient which is the frequency. From these analysis, an increase in the radius will decrease the frequency of rotation therefore are in indirect proportion.

3.      What will happen if the centripetal force apparatus was set up slightly off the horizontal? Explain the effect.

The speed of the object moving in the path will have an inconsistent speed. There will be a time that the object is increasing in speed and there will also be a moment that it will decelerate. The free body diagram will be different in different places and will be the same in some places because the angle between the weight and the tension will change every time.  These cause the change in speed of the object if the centripetal force apparatus was set up slightly off the horizontal.

CONCLUSION

1.        Are the objectives of the experiment met? Explain.

We were able to meet the objective of the experiment which is to quantify the force on the body when one of the parameters is held constant and to verify the effects of varying the factors involved in circular motion.

In this experiment, we studied the motion of a body which is moving in a circle at a constant speed. We deduce a mathematical expression from which predict the behaviour of any body moving in a circle under the influence of a centripetal force. We determined the functional dependence of the frequency on each of the other parameters by performing three experiments. In each experiment one of the parameters is varied while the other two are held constant. By the experiment, I conclude that the centripetal force is directly proportional to the mass and square of velocity but is inversely proportional to the radius.

2.      Discuss the practical application of the concept/s learned from the experiment.

The Flying Fiesta, a giant rotating swing, on Enchanted Kingdom applies the practical application of the concept of the experiment.  The right amount of force is needed to have a right amount of frequency. Different positions of the seats has different radius that is supposed to have different frequency but in this case, a different amount of force is present on the seats on have different radius. Therefore, seats which has greater distance from the center will have greater centripetal force and angular velocity which means that the person riding on it will be dizzier than the person with the same weight riding on the seat near the center.