Question

A spider twirls a 25 mg fruit fly around in a circle with radius 17.6 cm at the end of a web. If the velocity of the fly is 110 cm/s, what is the centripetal force acting on the fly?

Answer 1

Answer:

Fc =  1.7x10^-4 N

Explanation:

Convert everything to proper units:

m = 25mg = 2.5x10^-5 kg

r = 17.6cm = 0.176m

v = 110cm/s = 1.1m/s

the formula for centripetal force is Fc = mv^2 / r

Plug everything and solve for Fc;

fc = (2.5x10^-5)(1.1^2) / 0.176

Fc =  1.7x10^-4 N