3 by 10kg? ioooooooooooooo
<span>Acceleration of a passenger is centripetal acceleration, since the Ferris wheel is assumed at uniform speed:
a = omega^2*r
omega and r in terms of given data:
omega = 2*Pi/T
r = d/2
Thus:
a = 2*Pi^2*d/T^2
What forces cause this acceleration for the passenger, at either top or bottom?
At top (acceleration is downward):
Weight (m*g): downward
Normal force (Ntop): upward
Thus Newton's 2nd law reads:
m*g - Ntop = m*a
At top (acceleration is upward):
Weight (m*g): downward
Normal force (Nbottom): upward
Thus Newton's 2nd law reads:
Nbottom - m*g = m*a
Solve for normal forces in both cases. Normal force is apparent weight, the weight that the passenger thinks is her weight when measuring by any method in the gondola reference frame:
Ntop = m*(g - a)
Nbottom = m*(g + a)
Substitute a:
Ntop = m*(g - 2*Pi^2*d/T^2)
Nbottom = m*(g + 2*Pi^2*d/T^2)
We are interested in the ratio of weight (gondola reference frame weight to weight when on the ground):
Ntop/(m*g) = m*(g - 2*Pi^2*d/T^2)/(m*g)
Nbottom/(m*g) = m*(g + 2*Pi^2*d/T^2)/(m*g)
Simplify:
Ntop/(m*g) = 1 - 2*Pi^2*d/(g*T^2)
Nbottom/(m*g) = 1 + 2*Pi^2*d/(g*T^2)
Data:
d:=22 m; T:=12.5 sec; g:=9.8 N/kg;
Results:
Ntop/(m*g) = 71.64%...she feels "light"
Nbottom/(m*g) = 128.4%...she feels "heavy"</span>
4,500 plus 15% is 5,175 minus 4% is 4,968 so your answer is 4,968.
Even though we are using variables, we still know that "difference" means subtraction. So, if the larger is x1 and x2, those variables go first. The smaller, y1 and y2 will go second. So our problem will look like this:
(x1 < x2 ? x2 : x1) - (y1 < y2 ? y1 : y2)
