What is the centripetal acceleration?

Question

Please list formulas

 

Aturntable for vinyl records works by constraining the needle to track inside a groove in a very close approximation of uniform circular motion. If the turntable rotational speed is 33 1/3 rpm, what is the needle's centripetal acceleration when it is 14.6 cm from the center?

Answer 1

Hi Deoni,

        Centripetal acceleration is the acceleration required to keep a particle moving in a circle. It (the vector) always points toward the center if the circle and has magnitude v²/R where v is the speed of the particle and R is the radius of the circle.

       In the problem above v=2πRN/60 where N=33.333 rpm so v=50.96 cm/sec. the acceleration a=(50.96)²/14.6=177.89 cm/sec².

 

Hope this helps

 

Jim