A boy and a girl are riding a merry-go-round which is turning at a constant rate. The boy is near the outer edge, while the girl is closer to the center. Who has the greater centripetal acceleration?

Question

A boy and a girl are riding a merry-go-round which is turning at a constant rate.  The boy is near the outer edge, while the girl is closer to the center.  Who has the greater centripetal acceleration?

anonymous · Answer

@JFraser

jfraser · Answer

what's the formula for centripetal accelration?

anonymous · Answer

a=v^2/r I believe

jfraser · Answer

so if the acceleration depends inversely on R, who has the smaller R?

anonymous · Answer

the girl. So I figured the boy was greater but I wasn't sure because I remebered reading that no matter where you are on the radius you have the same velocity or something of the sort.

jfraser · Answer

it depends on what kind of velocity you're talking about. angular velocity is always constant, but tangential velocity depends on radius

anonymous · Answer

so centripetal acceleration is related to tangential acceleration

anonymous · Answer

yes?

jfraser · Answer

all the linear terms are related to their circular counterparts

anonymous · Answer

I realize this.  Ummm I guess a better question to ask then is when would the acceleration be constant. For example this question asks for greater centripetal acceleration and in this case it's the boy, but for what type of acceleration would they be equal?  Does that make sense?