Car shouldn't slid

A 1500 kg 1500 \text{ kg} car goes around a curve of radius 200 m 200\text{ m} . The curve is banked at 1 1 11^\circ 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 g = 9.8 ms 2 g = 9.8\text{ ms}^{-2} .

36.02 40.3 32 38.18

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1 solution

Tom Engelsman
Oct 22, 2017

A free-body diagram for the car is shown at left. Both the normal force, N N (blue components) and the friction force, f 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 ) N \cdot cos(\theta) = mg + f \cdot sin(\theta)

Using the approximation f = μ N f = \mu N , where μ \mu is the coefficient of friction, gives:

N = m g c o s ( θ ) μ s i n ( θ ) N = \frac{mg}{cos(\theta) - \mu \cdot sin(\theta)}

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 ) ) = ( m g c o s ( θ ) μ s i n ( θ ) ) ( s i n ( θ + μ c o s ( θ ) ) = s i n ( θ ) + μ c o s ( θ ) c o s ( θ ) μ s i n ( θ ) m g . F_{net} = N sin(\theta) + f cos(\theta) = N sin(\theta) + \mu \cdot N cos(\theta) = N(sin(\theta) + \mu cos(\theta)) = (\frac{mg}{cos(\theta) - \mu sin(\theta)})(sin(\theta + \mu cos(\theta)) = \boxed{\frac{sin(\theta) + \mu cos(\theta)}{cos(\theta) - \mu sin(\theta)} \cdot mg}.

Here, the term f c o s ( θ ) f \cdot cos(\theta) is friction's contribution to the centripetal force. Also, notice again that if μ = 0 \mu = 0 , this result reduces to the same F n e t F_{net} 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 s i n ( θ ) + μ c o s ( θ ) c o s ( θ ) μ s i n ( θ ) m g = m v 2 R F_{net} = F_{centripetal} \Rightarrow \frac{sin(\theta) + \mu cos(\theta)}{cos(\theta) - \mu sin(\theta)} \cdot mg = \frac{mv^2}{R} ;

and solving for v v gives:

v = ( s i n ( θ ) + μ c o s ( θ ) c o s ( θ ) μ s i n ( θ ) ) g R = ( s i n ( 11 ) + ( 0.48 ) c o s ( 11 ) c o s ( 11 ) ( 0.48 ) s i n ( 11 ) ) ( 9.8 ) ( 200 ) = 38.2 v = \sqrt{ (\frac{sin(\theta) + \mu cos(\theta)}{cos(\theta) - \mu sin(\theta)}) \cdot gR} = \sqrt{ (\frac{sin(11) + (0.48) cos(11)}{cos(11) - (0.48) sin(11)})(9.8)(200)} = \boxed{38.2} m/s.

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