Question

A car moving at a steady 10 m/s on a level highway encounters a bump that has a circular cross-section with a radius of 30 m. The car maintains its speed over the bump. What is the normal force exerted by the seat of the car on a 60.0-kg passenger when the car is at the top of the bump?

Answer 1

When you are driving over a circular bump, you can feel your body moving up a small distance in the seat. This make you feel like you weigh less that you really do. This is caused by the fact that net down force on you is equal to the centripetal force. If you go the following website, you will see a problem that is similar to this one. Go the problem called Sample Roller Coaster Problem.

At this website you can see that the normal force exerted by the seat of the car on a 60.0-kg passenger is equal to the difference of the passenger’s weight and the centripetal force.

Weight = 60 * 9.8 = 588 N

Fc = 60 * 10^2/30 = 200 N

Normal force = 388 N

Explanation: