Question

The largest salami in the world, made in Norway, was more than 20 m long. If a hungry mouse ran around the salami’s circumference with a tangential speed of 0.17 m/s, the centripetal acceleration of the mouse was 0.29 m/s2 . What was the radius of the salami?

Answer 1

Answer: 0.09 m

Explanation:

Centripetal acceleration in terms of tangential speed is:

$a_c=\frac{v^2_t}{r}$

where r is the radius.

It is given that,

centripetal acceleration of the mouse, $a_c=0.29 m/s^2$

tangential speed , $v_t=0.17m/s$

Radius of salami is:

$r =\frac{(0.17m/s)^2}{0.29 m/s^2}=0.09m$

Thus, the radius of the salami is 0.09 m.