Question

A playground merry-go-round has radius 2.40 m and moment of inertia 2100 kg⋅m2 about a vertical axle through its center, and it turns with negligible friction.
(a) A child applies an 18.0 N force tangentially to the edge of the merry-go-round for 15.0 s. If the merry-go-round is initially at rest, what is its angular speed after this 15.0 s interval?
(b) How much work did the child do on the merry-go-round?
(c) What is the average power supplied by the child?

Answer 1

Answer:

a) 0.31 rad/s

b) 100 J

c) 6.67 W

Explanation:

(a) the force would generate a torque of:

$T = FR = 18 * 2.4 = 43.2 Nm$

According to Newton 2nd law, the angular acceleration would be

$\alpha = \frac{T}{I} = \frac{43.2}{2100} = 0.021 rad/s^2$

It starts from rest, then after 15s it would achieve a speed of

$\omega = \alpha t = 0.021 * 15 = 0.31 rad/s$

(b) The distance angle swept by it is:

$\theta = \frac{\alpha t^2}{2} = \frac{0.021 * 15^2}{2} = 2.314 rad$

Hence the work by the child

$W = T\theta = 43.2 *2.314 \approx 100 J$

c) Average power to work per time unit

$P = \frac{W}{t} = \frac{100}{15} = 6.67 W$