Question

Calculate the magnitudes of the centripetal acceleration and centripetal force for a person of mass 80 kg standing on the Earth's Equator, given that the radius of the Earth is 6.38 x 10 m. What provides the centripetal force in this case?​

Answer 1

Answer:

On the equator, a point rotates in a circle of radius

R

≈

6400

km

=

6.4

×

10

6

m

.

The angular velocity of rotation is

ω

=

2

π

1

day

=

2

π

24

×

60

×

60

s

=

7.27

×

10

−

5

s

−

1

Thus the centripetal acceleration is

ω

2

R

=

(

7.27

×

10

−

5

s

−

1

)

2

×

6.4

×

10

6

m

=

0.0338

ms

−

2