Answer:
<em>You did not ask anything, i guess that you want to find the equation of the height of the nail as a function of time.</em>
Data that we have:
The nail is in a circular object.
the nail hits the ground every 2 seconds, then the weel does a full cycle every 2 seconds.
The maximum height of the nail is 48cm, and as the nail is stuck on the weel, the maximum height will be when the nail is on top of the weel.
From this, we can conclude that the diameter of the weel is 48cm.
Now, with this we could write the equation of the height of the nail as a function of time.
We know that this is a periodic function, so let's write it as:
f(t) = A*cos(c*t) + B
where A, B and c are constanst.
At t = 0, when the byke hits the nail, the nail must be in the ground, so we have that:
0 = A*cos(c*0) + B
A + B = 0
A = - B
and we also know that the function is periodic with T = 2s
cos(c*t) = cos(c*(t + 2s) = cos( c*t + 2s*c)
and we know that the period of the cosine function is 2*pi
then:
c*2s = 2*pi
c = (2pi/2s) = pi/s
then our function is:
f(t) = -B*cos(t*pi/s) + B
now, the maximum heightwill be when cos(t*pi/s) = -1, and this happens at t = 1s
f(1s) = -B*cos(pi) + B = 2B
And we know that the maximum height is 48cm
2*B = 48cm
B = 24cm
Then the function of the height of the nail is:
f(t) = -24cm*cos(t*pi/s) + 24cm
