A Ferris wheel, 24.0 m in diameter, rotates once every 12.5 s(see the diagram.) What is the fractional change in a person'sapparent weight (a) at the top, and (b) at the bottom, as comparedto her weight at rest?

Answer 1

The net centripetal force is mr omega^2 where r is 24 and omega is 2pi/12.5 (the m's will cancel)

So fractional weight at the top is
(mg - mr omega^2) / mg and at the bottom
(mg + mr omega^2) / mg
And you can now see the m's do indeed cancel.