Question

a) What is the centripetal acceleration for a 4kg baseball attached to a 2m string with a force of 25N?
b) What is the speed of the baseball?

Answer 1

Is the 25N force driving the mass in the circular path or directly acting in the centripetal direction?

Answer 2

It's the force driving the mass in the circular path

Answer 3

Because the baseball is accelerating, the value of the centripetal acceleration will change with time. We get\[a_c = {v^2 \over r}\]Account for change in acceleration with time. \[a_c t = {(a_t*t)^2 \over r} \rightarrow a_c = {a_t^2 t \over r}\]

Answer 4

thanks

Answer 5

I suspect that the 25N force is actually the centripetal force. In that case, \[F = ma_c \rightarrow a_c = 25/4\]

Then the speed can be calculated as \[a_c = {v^2 \over r}\]

This makes more sense, since you are not given any time data.