Question

A child is sitting on the outer edge of a merry-go-round that is 18 m in diameter. if the merry-go-round makes 5.9 rev/min, what is the velocity of the child in m/s?

Answer 1

Velocity of the child= 20008.1 m/s

Explanation;

diameter= 18 m

the linear velocity v is given by

v= r ω

r= radius=18/2= 9 m

ω= 5.9 rev/ min = 5.9 rev/min* [2π rad/ 1 rev] *[60 s/ 1 min]=2223.1 rad/s

so V= 9 (2223.1)

V= 20008.1 m/s

Answer 2

Answer: The velocity of the kid is 5.6 m/s

Explanation: Ok, the velocity of the kid will be:

v = w*r

where r is the radius, and w is the frequency.

We know that the diameter is 18m, and the diameter is equal to two times the radius. So r = 18m/2 = 9m

Now, we know that the circumference of a circle is equal to c = 2pi*r, so each revolution has this length, if the kid does 5.9 revolutions in one minute, then the kid spins at v = 5.9*2pi*9m/min

But we want to write this in meters per second, this means that we need to divide it by 60.

v = (5.9*2pi*9/60)m/s = 5.56 m/s