Dizzy on a circular path!

A race car is driving on a circular track with speed 150 m/s 150\text{ m/s} . Find the magnitude of the change in its velocity (in m/s \text{m/s} ) when the car has moved through 120 {120}^{\circ} .


The answer is 259.808.

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2 solutions

Ashish Menon
Jun 15, 2016

Generalizing:-
The red angle is theta. The red angle is theta.

Let the speed be s s and angle be θ \theta .
Now velocity has speed and direction, so:-
V = V B V A = V B + ( V A ) 1 \begin{aligned} \triangle{V} & = \vec{V_B} - \vec{V_A}\\ & = \vec{V_B} + \left(-\vec{V_A}\right) \longrightarrow \boxed{1} \end{aligned}

Now, the vectors can be redrawn as the following:-

But we dont know the angle between the vectors. So, observe in the first figure that FHB = 180 θ \angle{\text{FHB}} = 180 - \theta anditis the angle between the vectors we want.

So, taking the value in 1 \boxed{1} we get:-
V = s 2 + s 2 2 × s × s × cos ( θ ) = 2 s 2 ( 1 cos θ ) 2 cos 2 θ = 1 2 sin 2 θ cos ( 2 θ 2 ) = 1 2 sin 2 ( θ 2 ) cos θ = 1 2 sin 2 ( θ 2 ) 2 sin 2 ( θ 2 ) = 1 cos θ 3 Substituting 3 in 2 , we get : V = 2 s 2 × 2 sin 2 ( θ 2 ) = 2 s sin ( θ 2 ) \begin{aligned} \triangle{V} & = \sqrt{s^2 + s^2 - 2×s×s×\cos\left(\theta\right)}\\ & = \sqrt{2s^2\left(1 - \cos\theta\right)} \longrightarrow \boxed{2}\\ \\ \cos2\theta & = 1 - 2{\sin}^2\theta\\ \cos\left(\dfrac{2\theta}{2}\right)& = 1 - 2{\sin}^2\left(\dfrac{\theta}{2}\right)\\ \cos\theta & = 1 - 2{\sin}^2\left(\dfrac{\theta}{2}\right)\\ 2{\sin}^2\left(\dfrac{\theta}{2}\right) & = 1 - \cos\theta \longrightarrow \boxed{3}\\ \\ \text{Substituting} \ \boxed{3} \ \text{in} \ \boxed{2}, \ \text{we get}:-\\ \\ \triangle{V} & = \sqrt{2s^2 × 2{\sin}^2\left(\dfrac{\theta}{2}\right)}\\ & = \color{#20A900}{\boxed{2s\sin\left(\dfrac{\theta}{2}\right)}} \end{aligned}

So, in this question, we have s = 150 s = 150 and θ = 120 \theta = 120
So, V = 2 × 150 × sin ( 120 2 ) = 300 × sin 60 = 300 × 3 2 = 150 3 = 259.807 260 \begin{aligned} \triangle{V} & = 2×150×\sin\left(\dfrac{120}{2}\right)\\ & = 300 × \sin 60\\ & = 300 × \dfrac{\sqrt{3}}{2}\\ & = 150\sqrt{3}\\ & = 259.807\\ & \approx \color{#3D99F6}{\boxed{260}} \end{aligned}

Same Way! (+1)

Samara Simha Reddy - 5 years ago

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Thanks! ʕ•ٹ•ʔ

Ashish Menon - 5 years ago

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You would have mentioned floor or ceil. I first submitted my answer as 259, later I submitted it as 260.

Samara Simha Reddy - 5 years ago

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@Samara Simha Reddy But 259 is not the 'nearest' one. I wpuld have mentioned it like that but I thought it woukd be wierd in a physics question. ;)

Ashish Menon - 5 years ago

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@Ashish Menon Anyhow. We have 3 chances right. It's useful.

Samara Simha Reddy - 5 years ago

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@Samara Simha Reddy Hehe yeah true

Ashish Menon - 5 years ago

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@Ashish Menon Nice problem & nice solution (+1)! By using a bit of geometry of circles one can easily Prove that : " Angle b/w two vectors on a circle is simply the angle subtented by their tails at the centre. "

You have done well , nice proof :-)

Rishabh Tiwari - 4 years, 12 months ago
Sb Antu
Jun 21, 2016

v^2+v^2-2v v cos(120) gives the answer... Simple geometry

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