Spinning a candy cane
A candy cane of mass can be spun around my finger at a comfortable frequency of . From experience, the head of the candy cane breaks at any higher frequency. Given that the candy acts as a point mass away from my finger, what is the magnitude of the maximum tension (N) it can withstand?
Details and assumptions: All parts of the candy cane are in uniform circular motion.
The answer is 1.
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1 solution
At the maximum f = 5 H z , tension acting on the candy cane is of the same magnitude as the centripetal force. Hence T = m × ω 2 r = 0 . 0 2 0 ( 5 × 2 π ) 2 ( 0 . 0 5 ) = 1 N