Question

The track of a roller coaster is shown below.

An illustration of a roller coaster track with a first hill, just after the hill is a level section that dips down lower before going back up to a level lower than the original hill and levels off. There are 4 labeled points, W halfway up the first hill, X on the first level section, Y in the next dip and Z on the last level section.

At which point will the riders experience centripetal acceleration?

W
X
Y
Z

Answer 1

Centripetal acceleration occurs whenever the coaster is moving along a curved path (the velocity direction is changing). That is at W and Y.

X and Z are straight/level sections, so there is no centripetal acceleration there. (Magnitude: ac = v^2/r, directed toward the center of curvature.)