A car goes around a curve of radius . The curve is banked at and the coefficient of static friction between the car and the road is 0.48. What is the maximum speed of the car around the curve so that it doesn't slide?
Take .
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A free-body diagram for the car is shown at left. Both the normal force, N (blue components) and the friction force, f (red components) have been resolved into horizontal and vertical components. Notice that there are three vectors in the vertical direction, and:
N ⋅ c o s ( θ ) = m g + f ⋅ s i n ( θ )
Using the approximation f = μ N , where μ is the coefficient of friction, gives:
N = c o s ( θ ) − μ ⋅ s i n ( θ ) m g
If the coefficient of friction is zero, this reduces to the same normal force as we derived for no-friction, which is reassuring. If the coefficient of friction is not zero, notice that the normal force will be larger than it was in the no-friction case. Now, in the horizontal direction:
F n e t = N s i n ( θ ) + f c o s ( θ ) = N s i n ( θ ) + μ ⋅ N c o s ( θ ) = N ( s i n ( θ ) + μ c o s ( θ ) ) = ( c o s ( θ ) − μ s i n ( θ ) m g ) ( s i n ( θ + μ c o s ( θ ) ) = c o s ( θ ) − μ s i n ( θ ) s i n ( θ ) + μ c o s ( θ ) ⋅ m g .
Here, the term f ⋅ c o s ( θ ) is friction's contribution to the centripetal force. Also, notice again that if μ = 0 , this result reduces to the same F n e t as the no-friction case. Now, since the net force provides the centripetal force to turn the car:
F n e t = F c e n t r i p e t a l ⇒ c o s ( θ ) − μ s i n ( θ ) s i n ( θ ) + μ c o s ( θ ) ⋅ m g = R m v 2 ;
and solving for v gives:
v = ( c o s ( θ ) − μ s i n ( θ ) s i n ( θ ) + μ c o s ( θ ) ) ⋅ g R = ( c o s ( 1 1 ) − ( 0 . 4 8 ) s i n ( 1 1 ) s i n ( 1 1 ) + ( 0 . 4 8 ) c o s ( 1 1 ) ) ( 9 . 8 ) ( 2 0 0 ) = 3 8 . 2 m/s.