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Coolguy91
Jan 31, 2011, 11:32 PM
http://www.smartphysics.com/images/content/mechanics/ch3/CarOnCurve2.png

A car is traveling around a horizontal circular track with radius r = 250 m at a constant speed v = 25 m/s as shown. The angle θA = 19° above the x axis, and the angle θB = 58° below the x axis.

I got the magnitude of car's acceleration but can't find the answer for these.
1) What is the x and y component of the car's acceleration when it is at point A
2) What is the x and y component of the car's acceleration when it is at point B

Thank you

ebaines
Feb 1, 2011, 08:47 AM
The centripedal accelaration is a vector, having a certain magnitude and a direction toward the center of the circle. It's magnitide is


|\vec a| = w^2 R = \frac {v^2} R


The x component is that magnitude times the \cos \theta . And the y component is the magnitude times \sin \theta