Asked by christian

A roller coaster car travels through a loop in 3.1 s with a centripetal acceleration of 26 m/s2. What is the radius of the roller coaster loop?

6.3 m
20 m
25 m

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Use a_c = v^2 / r and v = 2πr / T. Then

a_c = (2πr / T)^2 / r = 4π^2 r / T^2 → r = a_c T^2 / (4π^2).

Plug in a_c = 26 m/s^2 and T = 3.1 s:

r = 26*(3.1)^2 / (4π^2) ≈ 249.86 / 39.478 ≈ 6.3 m.

Answer: 6.3 m.