Question

A small plane makes a complete circle with a radius of 3400 m in 60 sec. What is the centripetal acceleration of the plane?

Answer 1

ac = v^2/r with v = 2πr/T, so ac = 4π^2 r / T^2.

Plugging in: ac = (4π^2)(3400 m) / (60 s)^2 ≈ 37.3 m/s^2.

(About 37 m/s^2, ≈ 3.8 g.)