Question

A woman places her briefcase on the backseat of her car. As she drives to work, the car negotiates an unbanked curve in the road that can be regarded as an arc of a circle of radius 62.0 m. While on the curve, the speed of the car is 15.0 m/s at the instant the briefcase starts to slide across the backseat toward the side of the car. (a) What force causes the centripetal acceleration of the briefcase when it is stationary relative to the car

Answer 1

Explanation:

It is given that,

Radius of the circular road, r = 62 m

Speed of the car, v = 15 m/s

(a) We need to find the force that causes the centripetal acceleration of the briefcase when it is stationary relative to the car. The centripetal acceleration is given by :

$a=\dfrac{v^2}{r}$

$a=\dfrac{(15)^2}{62}$

$a=3.62\ m/s^2$

The centripetal acceleration is caused due to static frictional acting along the curve of the road. The briefcase starts sliding when the centripetal force exceeds the frictional force.